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Baraboo, Dells, and 
Devil’s Lake Region 


Scenery, Archeology, Geology, 
Indian Legends, and Local 
History Briefly Treated 


Maps and Mlustrations 
Third Edition 


Biya Hew, ce) © alee) 


Baraboo, Wis. 


Baraboo News Publishing Company 
Baraboo, Wis. 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


“STAGECOACH AND TAVERN DAYS IN 
THE BARABOO REGION,” map and several pages 
illustrating the old hostelries, bound similar to this 
booklet, 50c. 


“BARABOO BEAR TALES,” true stories of 
pioneer times, boards, 50c. 


“BARABOO AND OTHER PLACE NAMES 
IN SAUK COUNTY, WISCONSIN,” how places 
received their names, paper, 25c. 


“QUEST FOR LIFE’S MEANING,” an essay, 
boards, 25c. 


Also this booklet: “BARABOO, DELLS, AND 
DEVIL’S LAKE REGION,” 50c. 


1920 Copyright, 1,000 Copies. 
1921 Copyright, 5,000 Copies. 
1924 Copyright, 5,000 Copies. 


sss 


Sauk County Publishing Company Print, Baraboo, Wis. 


FOREWORD 


The following pages are intended to give but a faint hint of the 
scenic beauty, Indian legends, archeology, local history, and geology 
of the Baraboo, Dells, and Devil’s Lake region. If they add, even in a 
slight degree, to the pleasure of those who love the out-of-doors, and 
encourage the local resident as well as the visitor to inform himself 
concerning the numberless interesting and fascinating places of our 
countryside, the object for which they are written will have been at- 
tained. 

As to geology, this is a rare field for the student. The igneous 
rocks, the various formations resting upon them, the drift covered and 
driftless areas, and the work of erosion through long periods of time 
have combined to make the region one to which many students are at- 
tracted annually. 

The Indian earthworks, the village sites, and other relics of a race 
which once found delight in dwelling here, furnish a rich territory for 
those interested in the American aborigine. 

As to local history, the annals of the white man reach back to 1673 
when the first known voyagers went down the Wisconsin. The inter- 
esting story is continuous from the days when the region was on the 
outer rim of civilization to the present time. 

Above all is this section rich in natural beauty. The hills and the 
numerous lakes and rivers have for years attracted tourists from every 
point of the compass. California and other localities boast greater 
elevations, larger lakes and more prominent streams, but for unique 
beauty there are few sections in this country that possess the attrac- 
tions of the Dells, Mirror Lake, Devil’s Lake, and the Baraboo Bluffs. 

In the preparation of these pages valuable assistance has been 
given by O. D. Brandenburg, long editor of the Madison Democrat; 
Charles E. Brown, secretary of the Wisconsin Archeological Society; 
Miss Louise Phelps Kellogg, member of the staff of the State Histori- 
cal Society of Wisconsin; C. L. Harrington, State Conservation Com- 
mission; Consulting Engineer W. G. Kirchoffer, Madison; W. E. Eng- 
lish, Wyocena; City Engineer H. E. French, Baraboo; E. A. Gilman, 
Portage, and others. 

F. T. Thwaites, member of the geological department, University of 
Wisconsin, has rewritten and revised nearly all of the geology in these 
pages, and valuable assistance has been given by M. C. Crandall of 
Baraboo, in bringing the booklet from the press. 

Geologies, local histories, and other publications have been freely 
used in the preparation of the text. 

a By) Dinad OO PEE 
Baraboo, Wisconsin, June 25, 1924, 


1 {Q9NORoOQdD 


SFR FAIRY DFLI PAB 
SS 


aT 


154 
LOGANVILLE 


136 
@VHITE MOUND 


TALIESEN---FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT @ 


Map I. Double Map of Sauk and 


RICHLAND COUNTY 


Nee KILBOURN 
PTeTHE DELLS, 


DELTON 


= 


= ea NARROWS 
: = 


Ta 


B BLACK HAWK 


"patrterieto 
MONUMENT 


; DANE COUNTY 
i] 


| 
1 
| 
i 
IOWA COUNTY ' 
= | 


= SORTER ree oe _— 


ry MAZOMANIE 


Portions of Adjoining Counties. 


CONTENTS 


Wisconsin River Dells, Grave of Rebel Spy.....................0.....-.-- 7 
Lower) Dells. Site ‘of: Old Newport.22 a eee 27 
Mirror’-Lake, (Cofigress: Hall(" 52) ee ee 33 
Devil'sLake;; Scenic, Wonder3.2.-3. 0 ee ee 37 
Parfrey’s-Glen;.Wildest ‘of. Them All 2232 55 
Durward’s. Glen, Durward. Family 272.2 ee 58 
Yellow) Thunder and Stone, Pillar. 7 2a ee 65 
Pewit's Nest and Skillet) Falls. 2307 3a ee 70 
Man Mound, Why Mounds Were Built......22022-2.02 2... 73 
Spring Green, Jones’ State Park, Ableman...................---02........ 79 
Natural’ Bridge (Near® Leland ..2. eee 90 
Wisconsin Heights Battlefield, Roxbury....................2.......... 91 
Portage: and Fort *Winnebag0s=--sa ee 97 
Madison ‘to the! Dells. Se) 5, 203s. ee 107 
Miscellaneous Placeswto $Visit.222 a. 2 109 
Geology of the -Regigiitet 2.2. ee 110 
MISCELLANEOUS 
Water Powers in the Baraboo Region.................-000.02-2.-------- 26 
Roads from Baraboo to Madison.............................. ee ee 54 
Memorials in Baraboo Region................ srotdnckrwens <ceetee eka ee 57 
Wisconsin™State t Parks. 2 ee ee ee 69 
Wisconsin * Elevations 2 oe ee a i 69 
Elevation of Wiscofisin~ Lakes. s20 22) ee 69 


CHAPTER I 


Wisconsin River and The Dells, Geology, 
History, and Scenic Beauty Round- 
about Kilbourn 


Hes geological interest and thrilling episode, for romantic charm and 
scenic beauty, the Wisconsin river has few parallels in this country. 
Over one thousand four hundred lakes, sparkling amidst the pine 
woods, in the northern part of the state, pour their surplus waters 
into this inland stream, which 
courses some four hundred 
miles through the state to its 
place of confluence with the 
Mississippi near Prairie du 
Chien. 


The Wisconsin River can 
be divided into five distinct 
sections: first, there is the 
headwater region of low 
sandy plains interspersed 
with innumerable small lakes. 
This is an -area ofs recent 
glaciation where streams have 
not as yet had time to estab- 
lish deep valleys. Next fol- 
lows the district from Mer- 
rill to Stevens Point which 
was glaciated at an_ earlier 
period so that even small 
streams have had time to 
clear out their courses and 
destroy most of the lakes and 
marshes. South of Stevens 
Point the aspect of the river 
changes and it flows through 
an immense level, marshy 
sand plain, the product of 
streams which flowed from 
the last glacier when its bor- 
der lay to the east. Previous 
to this last stage of glaciation 
the Wisconsin flowed straight 
south to what is now the 
Lower Narrows of the Bara- 

Chimney Rock beo; thence it passed west 
. and south to the present site 
of Devil’s Lake, thence south and east to its present course at Merri- 
mack. The glacial deposits filled the old bed of the river and the ter- 
minal moraine formed so effective a dam that the river was forced to 


7 


8 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


the west and has never been able to regain its old course. During the 
time of the last glacier this middle course of the Wisconsin could find 
no outlet to the south and was madeé into a huge lake; this lake over- 
flowed into Black River to the northwest. At Kilbourn the Wisconsin 
re-enters the area of the last drift and flows through low marshy coun- 
try with some hills to Prairie du Sac, where it has worn a deep chan- 
nel through the terminal moraine. The narrow gorge where Devil’s 
Lake now lies was so deeply filled with glacial drift that the river could 
not follow it after the ice melted and so took up its present course in 
the great bend at Portage. Below Prairie du Sac the river lies in its 
old wide valley through the driftless area, that part of Wisconsin not 
touched by any glacier. The valley was filled by sand and_ gravel 
washed from the melting ice so that the river is now 150 feet above its 


The Narrows in The Dells 


A trip up the Wisconsin River, through the Dells, leaves a memory of fascinatizz 


= 


scenery. Note the crossbedding—tilting in the Eau Claire Sandstone. 


preglacial level and fows on a broad, somewhat marshy, sandy plain. 
For a long time while the ice was melting away the Wisconsin carried 
great floods of water which partly washed away the sands and gravels 
deposited when the ice was nearer. 


The work of the Wisconsin in the bezinning was in the pre-Cam- 
brian formations (see the geological table, the last chapter in this 
booklet) and the period when it flowed across the Baraboo region, 
through the gap at Devil’s Lake, was ro dcubt the grandest of its his- 
tory. The bluffs at Devil’s Lake date from that time and through all 
the epochs included between the Archean and Pleistocene the stream 
flowed through the gap until diverted in its course by the coming of the 
glacier. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 9 


Early History. 


For hundreds of years previous to the coming of the French to 
Wisconsin, the Indians used the river as a waterway. While on the 
chase, in seeking a place of abode, or when following the war path, 
defeating or defeated, the aborigines came and went on tke river. 


Then came the days of the illustrious explorers, the hardy adven- 
turers, devout priests, reckless voyagers, skillful trappers, and cour- 
ageous pioneers. Tales of these picturesque groups fill the annals of 
the French, English and American periods in Wisconsin history. 
When fur was king, the weather-hardened Frenchmen came singing 
down the stream in their light bateaux, bringing to the savages bright 
colored blankets, gaudy trinkets, arms, powder, and often “firewater.” 


Devil’s Anvil, Near Dells of the Wisconsin 
The wind and weathering have produced this unusual natural curiosity. 


These care-free vagabonds frequently married the squaws and with the 
Indians endured severe hardships, joining in their most daring adven- 
tures. 


The names of Joliet (always written Jolliet by the explorer but the 
accepted spelling has been changed with the years), Marquette, Duluth, 
Hennepin, Carver and others of a notable company, indelibly linked 
with the river, visualize the spirit of romantic exploration and adven- 
ture, covering portions of three centuries. This phase of the river’s his- 
tory is more fully treated in the chapter on Portage and Fort Winneba- 
go. 

Wisconsin is an Indian word, meaning “wild, rushing river.” By 
early writers’ the name was spelled Miskonsing, Miskous, Meskousing, 
Ouisconsing, Ouisconsings and QOuisconsink. All these in time crys- 
talized into Ouisconsin, which by an act of the legislature was changed 
to Wisconsin. 


10 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Indian Legend of the Wisconsin River and the Dells 


As related by a Chippewa Indian, the bed of the Wisconsin River 
was formed by an immense serpent. He was a manitou or spirit and 
had his home in the great forests near the Big Lake. His powers were 
very great and all other animals were afraid of him. Once this great 


Hornets’ Nest Near Dells of the Wisconsin 
This rock pillar was produced by weathering and the work of the wind. 


serpent started to travel from his home in the forests toward the sea. 
In crawling over the land his immense body wore a great groove or 
channel through the forests and fields. Into this bed the water rushed. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 11 


When he moved his tail great masses of water splashed from. the 
channel onto the lands about and formed lakes. Many lakes were 
made in this way. All animal.life fled before him as_ he travelled. 
Other less powerful serpents made haste to get out of his course. They 
formed channels c2 their own as they fled in all directions from him. 
Thus came to be the beds of many of the smaller streams which now 
flow into the Wisconsin. In places where the river flows over falls 
there were rocks in the path of the great serpent so he crawled down 
over them. The water below them is deep. The water now rushes 
over making the same loud noise which he made. 


Near the Ouisconsin Dells he encountered a great body of rock. 
Finding a crack in this he thrust his head into it and rent the stone 
walls by the contortions of his powerful body. The queer shapes of 
these rocks are due to his struggles to get through them. Where the 
banks of this river are very wide he rested. Below the Dells he 
changed his course of travel to the west, finally reaching the Missis- 
sippi. 


Visor Ledge, Dells of the Wisconsin 


Erosion of the soft material beneath the hard sandstone left the projecting rock. 


The Winnebago term for the Dells was Neeh-ah-ke-coonah-er-ah, 
where the rocks strike together. 


Geology of the Dells 


The Wisconsin Dells are a rocky gorge about seven miles long. 
The name is sometimes spelled Dalles, indeed this is probably the cor- 
rect form since it must have been first applied by the early French ex- 
plorers; it signifies “flagstones,” that is a narrow rocky part of the 
river. It is this fact that makes the Dells different from the rest of 
the river where the banks are mainly sand and are hence low or slop- 
ing. The sandstone is part of the formation called ‘‘Potsdam” by the 
older geologists; it is now called the Eau Claire formation and was 
deposited on the sea bottom during the Cambrian period (see last chap- 
ter in this booklet). The sand was washed about by currents; in some 


12 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


places it was carried into deeper water than most of the surrounding 
area. The layers were thus deposited on a slant as the sand slid down 
into the deeper holes. This phenomenon is called “cross bedding” as 
distinguished from the regular horizontal beds or layers which mark 
successive positions of the sea floor as it was built up. Pauses in de- 
position caused the layers to fail to stick together; the partings or lines. 
of separation are known as “bedding planes.” 


After a long time the sea disappeared and the region became land. 
Rivers flowing into the Wisconsin to the east wore away the surface. 
The site of the Dells was then a ridge between Dell Creek and Lemon- 
weir River. Then came the glacier, which filled the former course of 
the Wisconsin with drift and shut in Glacial Lake Wisconsin to the 
west. When the ice melted a lower point of escape than to Black 


Dell House 


<( 


KILBOURN 
KILBOURN 
KILBOURN 


Map II. Three Stages of Drainage at The Dells 


At one time the Wisconsin had a course ABDEF, the stream then flowing over 
the low land west of the dam of the hydro-electric plant, where lies the course of Hul- 
bert Creek. See left one of the three maps accompanying. To the west of the lo- 
cation of the old Dell House there was once a tributary to Artist’s Glen which cut 
back until it tapped the Wisconsin which caused it to be diverted to the course ABCG, 
as indicated by the middle map. At a still later time the river cut through the sand- 
stone at B, the Lark’s Hotel, and then followed the course ABG, as indicated in the 
map to the right. Artist’s Glen has not been able to erode as rapidly as the river and 
has been left an overhanging canyon. (See ‘‘Martin’s Physical Geography of Wis- 
consin.’’) 


River was left southeast of Kilbourn and the outlet of the lake changed. 
The river cut its way through the sandstone ridge and thus made the 
Dells. The time occupied in doing this was probably about 30,000 
years but the river did not always work in the same place. Two aban- 
doned channels can be found, one of them a short loop southwest of 
the Old Dell House, the other from there south of the railroad to be- 
low the dam. The jaws of the Dells are the narrowest part of the 
gorge; they have been occupied by the river for the shortest time. 


When the region was uplifted, the sand was hardened into sand- 
stone by the action of waters which circulated through the rock. The 
process of hardening was not very effective, however, and there is only 
one layer of really hard rock at the Dells. The cross bedding, differ- 
ences in hardness of the rock layers, and the fact that the surface of 
the sandstone tends to harden on exposure to the air are the factors 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 13 


which made possible the numerous curious shapes of rocks at the Dells. 
To the average person these are of great interest but to the geologist 
they are mere freaks of weathering and erosion developed within the 
last few thousand years. 


Early History of the Dells 


The identity of the first visitor to the Dells is not recorded and 
the early history of this scenic section of the river is quite obscure. 
By the twenties of the last century the Green Bay traders had trading 
posts on the upper river—au haut du QOuisconsin. There are letters 
written by them dating back to 1827, and from that onward. One of 


So 


¢ § 


F'rst Bridge Built Across the Wisconsin River 


The structure was erected in 1850 across a narrow portion of the stream above 
Ki‘bourn and was carried away in a flood, April 25, 1866. 


the traders was Jacques Porlier, Jr., who had his family with him a 
portion of the time; another was Charles Grignon, also his younger 
brothers, Paul and Amable, the latter making his home on the upper 
river from 1829. Amable was the youngest of Langlade’s grandsons, 
a clerk for the Hudson Bay Company in the Athabasca region, coming 
home too late in 1823 to see his mother, who died in October of that 
year. When he passed through the Dells he had with him his Mackinac 
bride, Judith Bourassa, a kinswoman of his grandmother Langlade. 
He came by the way of the Fox River and the portage, locating at 
Grignon’s bend in Juneau county. Amable opened a small farm, prob- 
ably bringing his produce through the Dells and selling it at Fort Win- 
nebago. 


14 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


eee ee 


ADAMS UNTY 


SAUK COUNTY ~~ COLUMBIA 


-= 
7. 
a 
% e@ 
= 
= 
e- 
e- 
o- 


Map III. The Dells Region 
EXPLANATION: (1) The Elms, Marshall farm. (2) Lower portion of Mir- 
ror Lake. (3) Sugar Bowl and other scenic features of the Lower Dells. (4) Where 
S. S. Gates was killed. (5) Abandoned channel of the Wisconsin River. (6) Hor- 
nets’ Nest, Stand Rock, Squaw’s Bed Chamber and other places of interest. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 15 


J. M. Street, Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, wrote on August 28, 
1832, to the Secretary of War at Washington that “The Black Hawk 
was taken about 40 miles above Portage on the Wiskinsin River, near a 
place called the Dalle.” At the same time Chaetar boasted, “Near the 
Dalles on the Wisconsin I took Black Hawk.” These are among the 
earliest documents in which the name appears. The Dells are also 
mentioned by I. A. Lapham and other early writers. 

The earliest permanent settlers at the lower end of the Dells were 
Amasa Wilson, C. B. Smith, and R. V. Allen of Galena. As late as 
1878, Allen, a famous river pilot, was living here, proprietor of the Dell 
House. For some years his place was the only one between Grignon’s 
on the upper river and Portage. When Kingston went to the Lemon- 
weir early in 1838, he wrote of the Point Bas Trail as being plain and 
much used while the trail crossing the Dells was untrodden. 

In 1845 a small steamboat passed through the gorge, this being the 
first attempt to navigate this portion of the river by means of this kind 
of craft. 


Jefferson Davis at the Dells 


In pioneer times, during the days of lumbering, with each return- 
ing vernal season, great processions of rafts passed down the river. 
Before running the ‘Dells they were divided into sections in order to 
reduce the danger of destruction and even with this precaution, many 
were broken in pieces by the angry waters. There was no dam below 
in those days and the surging rapids carried more than one raft to de- 
struction and more than one raftsman to his doom. It was a daring 
life for the pilots and all others engaged on the cumbersome rafts. 


Among the first timbers floated through the Dells was lumber for 
the building of Fort Winnebago at Portage, cut on the Yellow River 
by Jefferson Davis and a detail of soldiers. It is said the future presi- 
dent of the Southern Confederacy rode one of the rafts through the 
Dells to its destination a number of miles below. 

The last raft passed through the Dells about 1890. 


The Wonderful Dells 


In the Upper Dells the river is from 52 to 1,000 feet wide, in con- 
trast to 1,500 to 2,000 feet above and below the gorge. In the Dells 
the river becomes both deeper and swifter, the dam below retarding 
the current to a great degree, however. The Eau Claire sandstone walls 
rise from 80 to 100 feet above the water. 

The way to see the Dells is by boat. Throughout the narrow pass- 
age a fanciful nomenclature adds to the romantic character of the ob- 
jects and places. Before the great dam was built at Kilbourn a num- 
ber of peculiarly interesting points, now buried by the limpid waters, 
were exposed to view. The erection of the dam, although destroying 
these particular features, has added to the uniqueness of others, result- 
ing as a whole in increased attractiveness for the Dells. As the guide 
steers the boat precariously between the jagged rocks or through the 
narrow passages, ke will call attention to many points e.umerated be- 
low. 

After leaving the boat landing the first place of interest to be 
reached is the Swallows’ Home, where the birds of graceful flight build 
their nests in cavities made in the soft sandstone. During the nesting 
season hundreds of these birds may be seen occupying numerous holes 
in the side of the cliff. 


16 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


The entrance to the scenic region proper is called the Gateway or 
Jaws of the Dells. High Rock commands the right side of the river 
as one ascends and Romance Cliff stands on the left, two rugged sen- 
tinels guarding this alluring waterway. 

Reposing on the right is the Alligator. 

Chimney Rock is one of nature’s freaks, somewhat resembling a 
stick and mortar chimney of pioneer times. This perpendicular pile, as 
well as others along the Dells, was fashioned by the stream, wind and 
frost as the particles which surrounded it were cut away. 


Channel Behind Steamboat Rock 


Many fascinating pictures, such as this one, may be seen in the Dells. 


Black Hawk’s Head or Great Stone Face, another interesting crea- 
tion, is on the right. 

The Frog’s Head is on the right. 

The old river channel is on the left. 

Only a few foundation stones remain on the site of the ancient and 
weathered Dell House, once a “wild, rambling old rookery.” It was 
the first frame house built on the river above Portage, erected in 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 17 


1837-38 by Robert V. Allen and used for many years as a tavern. Here 
the rivermen recounted their thrilling experiences in piloting their rafts 
through the Dells and told of the days in the pineries of pioneer Wis- 
consin. The building burned about 1906. 

Twin Sister Rocks are on the left. 

Chapel Gorge is a beautiful glen on the right, named for a pecu- 
liarly shaped rock at the entrance. 

Circle Bend is a half-circle in the river, the cliff of solid sandstone, 
high and bold. 

Eaton Grotto, named for President Eaton of Beloit College, is on 
the left. 

Sturgeon Rock, where many fish of that name were speared in 
pioneer times, is located on the left, at the entrance to the wild gran- 
deur of the Dells. 

The Navy Yard exhibits the geological formation of the Dells in 
the superlative degree. Huge vessels with prows and sides and ribs of 
solid stone, may be pictured without difficulty by the imagination, all 
warring with the waters of the narrows. 

At the narrows the river is only 52 feet wide, but more than 80 feet 
deep. Here the stream runs on its edge, hemmed in by masses of sand- 
stone on either side of the river. In 1850 Schuyler S. Gates built a 
bridge over the stream at this place, the first ever thrown across the 
Wisconsin River. After thousands of teams and passengers had paid 
toll, the high water carried away the structure on April 25, 1866. Sev- 
eral persons had crossed but a few moments before the bridge was 
carried down and a number of women standing below had a narrow 
escape. One of them fainted as a result of the excitement. 

len Eyrie, a ravine, is on the right. 

The Devil’s Elbow, a right-angle turn in the river, was named by 
the raftsmen who experienced great arduousness in passing through 
this portion of the stream. 

Black Hawk’s Cave is on the left. 

Rattlesnake Rock is on the left; although there are no _ reptiles 
there now. 

Sliding Rock on the left was named by rivermen because of the 
difficulty of standing on its sloping surface. 

Artist’s Glen on the right is one of the most beautiful retreats in 
the Dells. Coldwater Canyon and Witches’ Gulch are V-shaped or 
new valleys while Artist’s Glen is a U-shaped or an old valley. In 
time Coldwater Canyon and Witches’ Gulch will erode on the sides 
until they are wider and will resemble Artist’s Glen. This means many 
hundred years of eroding the sandstone rock. Artist’s Glen was form- 
ed by Artist’s Glen River which existed during glacial times, when the 
wall of ice was located some four miles to the east and the melting 
waters escaped to the westward. This glen is sometimes called a 
hanging canyon, the explanation of which is given elsewhere in this 
chapter. 

The Ancient River Bed is on the left. Before the stream was di- 
verted by cutting through the sandstone the river flowed through the 
now deserted channel, entering the main stream near the Dell House 
site. Water flows through the old channel in high water, thus form- 
ing an island. 

Coldwater Canyon is one of the grand features of the Dells. This 
is a rocky defile with frowning crags and perpendicular walls throagh 
which threads a slender stream. Here will be seen pot holes, some of 


18 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


them in the present course of the rivulet, a tributary to the Wisconsin. 
Inside of the pot holes will be found sand and rounded pebbles, erod- 
ing the bottom and sides as the water swirls about, especially during 
the spring months. The Devil’s Jug is especially large and perfect, 35 
feet across and 70 feet high, a most interesting object for the visitor. 
In the same canyon will be found the Fat Man’s Misery, Devil’s Fire 
Place and Moss Chamber. The work of the little stream began at the 
surface above, even much higher, and has cut this wonderful defile in 
the solid rock. Coldwater Canyon is one of the never-ending wonders 
of the Dells. 

After leaving Coldwater Canyon the next place of interest on the 
river as one ascends is the Giant’s Shield on the right. 

The Alligator’s Head is on the: left. 

Ruffle Rock is on the left. 

Steamboat Rock, an island in the river, is on the right. The small 
steamer was able to encircle this formation but the larger ones are not 
now able to do so. 

Rood’s Glen is on the right. This is a short canyon which the 
small boats enter that the visitors may see the overhanging rocks. 

Sunset Point is on the left, so named because here one obtains the 
first view of the setting sun when ascending the stream at eventide. 

Arch Cove, where one may find shelter from the rain, is on the 
left. 


Upper Part of tke Dells 


Before the dam at Kilbourn was built there was an island ahead 
where the dead timber stands. Here in the lumbering days the rafts 
were taken apart, uncoupled, that sections might be guided through 
the narrow places below. Even with this precaution more than one 
raft of lumber or logs was lost in the surging waters. 


Louis’ Bluff 


The high land ahead is known as Louis’ Bluff, named for Louis 
Dupless, a pioneer raftsman on the river. He was born in Bordeaux, 
France, and fought in the French and American wars. The graves of 
Dupless and others of the family will be found at the foot of the bluff. 

Witch’s Gulch, considered by some as the most beautiful section in 
the Dells, is on the right. This canyon is not so extensive as Cold- 
water Canyon but is very attractive. In this will be found the Devil’s 
Bath tub. 

Across the river to the left are Palisades, a sandstone rock forma. 
tion. 

The boat lands near the Indian Amphitheater, where harvest 
dances are given annually by the red men and their squaws. 

Visor Ledge, a great projecting slab of sandstone, is just above the 
Indian Ampitheater. 

The Toadstool is next. 

The Hornet’s Nest, a wonderful piece of nature’s carving, hangs 
on the side of the cliff. 

Luncheon Hall, with a natural bridge of rock, is just above. 


The Devil’s Anvil Is Near at Hand 


From the top of Luncheon Hall one obtains a fine view of the 
river, Elephant’s Back across the stream, and Louis’ Bluff to the left. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVILS LAKE REGION 19 


The Elephant’s Back is a monadnock formation, a hard portion of the 
sandstone left when the surrounding particles were carried away by 
erosion. All the land between the observer and the Elephant’s Back, 
even the layers that extended far above, have been carried away with 
the drainage of the landscape. Professor Lawrence Martin speaks of 
them as outliers, left behind in the recession of the Magnesian escarp- 
ment. 

The Devil’s Anvil, a queer formation, is near at hand. 

Stand Rock, a wonderful pillar with a broad cap, is a few rods 
above. Daring feet have no difficulty in covering the distance from 
the neighboring ledge to the top of the rock. 


Legend of the Squaw’s Bed Chamber 


There was a superstitious belief among the youthful Indians, so 
runs a legend, that good luck would follow the newly married if they 
spent their honeymoon in the secluded cavern known as the Squaw’s 
Bed Chamber, just west of Stand Rock. The cave extends back into 
the cliff fifty feet or more and has a tiny branch cavern on one side. It 
is said the young squaw would crown her lover husband at sunset, in 
the side chamber, with a wreath of fragrant fern and flowers, with the 
belief that game would be plentiful in their lodge ever after. It was 
thought that those who ignored this practice would be the victims upon 
whom Dame Fortune would wreak her vengence in the form of acci- 
dent, hunger and distress. , 


Wind Incessant Carver 


The wind is an incessant-carver of these soft sandstones. With 
every gust loose particles are carried away, leaving others exposed to 
meet a similar fate. One may glanee along the shore and see where 
the weathering has created fantastic shapes, ultimately doomed to de- 
struction through the activities of freezing, thawing and the wind. 


Vegetation in the Dells 


Hemlock, white pine, jack pine, Norway pine, and cedar are found 
among the evergreens which border the river, and among the decidu- 
ous trees are the silver, white and red birch and oak. Many beautiful 
ferns and scores of attractive plants are found in this section. 


Attractive Kilbourn 


Kilbourn is one of the favorite resorts in summer in the middle 
west, and its population at that season is more than double that of the 
winter. Rural roads and by-paths invite those who desire to explore 
bx car or afoot, while the attractions along the river are a never-end- 
ing wonder. To a visitor in Kilbourn the hours slip rapidly away. 

Besides the Dells there are other places of interest at beautiful 
Kilbourn. 

The hydro-electric dam and power station of the Southern Wis- 
consin Power Company is within easy walking distance of the boat 
landing. Most of the work of the dam and power house was done in 
1909 and the horsepower generated is about 10,000. There is a long 
gallery for visitors, who are always welcome. 

There is a small museum in the library building, which is situated’ 
a short distance east of the business section of the village. 


20 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Miss Anna Kriegel, taxidermist, has a collection of birds of the 
region. Her home is a short distance north of the fair ground. 

Taylor Glen and Tunnel, Rocky Arbor, and Indian Cavern are 
within easy reach. 

In the Kilbourn State Bank may be seen a collection of Indian 
relics, the property of L. N. Coapman, the cashier. 


An Historic Residence 


The house south of the Crandall Hotel and across the street from 
the Kilbourn Weekly Events office, is the General Joseph Bailey resi- 
dence. General Bailey was a Wisconsin lumberman prior to the Civil 
War and when the Red River fleet was in danger of capture in April, 
1864, by the happy suggestion of the Kilbourn resident, the boats were 
saved. General Bailey and his men constructed a series of wing-dams 
in the river and when the water arose, the fleet was floated to safety. 
This skilful expedient was almost the only relieving feature of the Red 
River expedition. 

General Bailey was killed near Nevada, Newton County, Missouri, 
on March 21, 1867, by two desperadoes. At the close of the war he 
became a farmer in Newton County, was elected sheriff, and while 
taking two prisoners to the county seat, fearlessly and without aid, was 
killed by them. 

The residence in Kilbourn was built by General Bailey and since 
the pre-war days has undergone some changes, but in the main stands 
as it was left by the family. 


Murder on the Highway Near Kilbourn 


Early one morning in the autumn of 1869, the body of Schuyler S. 
Gates was found under the trees, by the side of the highway, almost a 
mile southwest of the bridge across the Wisconsin River at Kilbourn. 
Gates was attacked by the side of Hulbert Creek, where a country road 
leaves the highway leading to Lyndon. A low concrete post near the 
bridge over the creek marks the spot where the attack was made. The. 
body was found a few rods away. 

As a result of this murder, Pat Wildrick, a notorious desperado, 
was hanged to a tree at Portage, this lynching being one of the few 
recorded in the annals of Wisconsin history. (See last part of the 
chapter on Portage.) 

On a stone in the Kilbourn Cemetery one reads: 


Mary Ann 


Wife of 
Schuyler S. Gates 
Born at Montpelier, Vt. 
Dec. 13, 1808 
Died Oct. 12, 1849 
Sweet is the memory of the 
departed 


An intellect that dazzled and 
captivated 
And a heart that glowed with 
love and charity 
: Early lost in the eternal 
shedow of death 


Schuyler S. Gates 
Born at 
Wallingford, Vt., 
Jan. 22, 1805 
Murdered 
Sept. 13, 1869 
A careless, innocent life. 


A life of trouble and strife. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 21 


Mrs. Gates is not buried by the side of her husband. According 
to an article in a Baraboo newspaper, Leroy Gates, a son of the de- 
ceased, wrote under date of June 27, 1865, to say that about sixteen 
years before, his family settled “on the Dells, then almost a wilder- 
ness,’ that his mother, “unused to the trials of forest life, pined away 
and died,’ October 12, 1849, two months after coming; that burial was 
on the “Gilson farm on the west bank of the river several miles below 
where Kilbourn is now located: that the rude coffin, covered with dark 
cloth,—paint it was impossible to procure— was conveyed in a small 
skiff across the river” and buried in the presence of a respectable com- 
pany: that, later, it was determined to remove the remains to the new 
cemetery at Kilbourn but that. “on opening the coffin it was found 
empty and as clean as when new” and Mr. Gates added that “the 


Grave of Belle Boyd, Rebel Spy 


Once an international figure; her last resting place in the Kilbourn cemetery is 
tenderly decorated with flags and flowers on each returning Memorial Day. 


physicians who attended her, and who were present at her funeral, have 
an awful crime to answer for,” yet “their names will not be divulged 
at present.” 


Grave of Rebel Spy 


In the Kilbourn cemetery, on a gentle slope where the sun casts 
its golden shafts at eventide, south of the well known Gates monument 
and near the Maybee lot, is the grave of Belle Boyd, noted rebel spy. 
Here sleeps the most determined woman foe the United States ever 
encountered. The thrills, the dangers, the triumphs, the reverses in 
her life read like fiction. . 

Born in 1844, in Martinsburg, Virginia, now West Virginia, in the 
lovely Shenandoah Valley, Belle Boyd was a girl in her teens, just out 
of school, when the Civil War cloud gathered. Her mother was the 
daughter of a Confederate officer and her father entered the army of 
the South at the opening of hostilities, becoming a member of Stone- 
wall Jackson’s brigade. 


tt BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Martinsburg was on the border line between the North and the 
South and naturally the city was a bone of contention during the years 
of struggle. When tke Federal troops first entered the town, the young 
lady was in a hospital which sheltered wounded Confederate soldiers. 
A Union captain became acquainted with her there and Belle’s initial act 
was to defy him. He declared before leaving that she was an “inde- 
pendent rebel lady.” 

When Federal troops came to raise the stars and stripes over the 
Boyd home, Mrs. Boyd, the mother of Belle, informed them that every 
individual member of her family would rather die than have it done. 
At this a soldier who, it is supposed, was intoxicated, struck the woman 
to the floor. In the next breath the daughter held a smoking revolver. 
The soldier had been shot to death. In retaliation for her deed the 
military proposed to burn the home but Belle hurried a message to a 
Federal officer and the house was saved. In the War Department at 
Washington may be seen a pistol bearing the label: “A trophy cap- 
tured from the celebrated rebel, Belle Boyd.” 

Following her tragic entrance into the civil conflict, this woman of 
undauntable courage and the possessor of unusual charm and beauty, 
flung to the winds all that she held dear that she might aid the Con- 
federate side. 

The Boyd home, when it lay within the Federal lines, was a point 
from which it was comparatively easy for this self-appointed spy to 
observe and exercise her fascinations upon Union officers and men. 
Bewitching them with her charms, she stole their side arms while she 
extracted bits of information, both of which she smuggled to her be- 
loved Confederate friends. One day having wheedled a military secret 
from a Union officer, she forwarded it to the opposing forces by an old 
negro mammy. The negress was taken prisoner and the plot traced to 
Belle Boyd, whose arrest followed. Ever resourceful, the youthful in- 
triguer exerted her fascinations to such a degree that the commanding 
officer lulled his conscience by reading her the articles of war instead 
of shooting her, restoring her freedom with the warning that she would 
not escape so easily next time. 

However, this episode did not influence the woman to swerve from 
the path she had willingly chosen. She continued to aid the Southern 
cause by whatever means she could muster. Once during her residence 
in Martinsburg she went for a canter on horseback with two Confed- 
erate soldiers, one cf them her cousin, the other a friend. When near 
the Federal lines her steed dashed wildly away and her cries for help 
so appealed to the soldiers on picket duty, that she was passed within 
the Federal lines and offered every courtesy by the Union men. She 
readily obtained permission to return and graciously accepted the 
escort of two officers. As the trio rode along, Belle’s two Confederate 
friends suddenly appeared and covered the three with their guns to the 
surprise and mortification of the lady’s would-be protectors. “Here 
are two prisoners I have brought you,” was the spy’s unconcerned re- 
mark to her friends. When the captured officers asked the name of 
their clever captor they were informed by her that she was Belle Boyd. 
Their only exclamation was: “The rebel spy.” 

Soon after this she was captured and taken to Baltimore as a pris- 
oner. She was later released and sent back to Martinsburg. 

Next she is heard of at Front Royal, Virginia, where an uncle and 
aunt were living. Federal troops occupied the house of her uncle and 
during an entire evening Belle lay in a closet above the room where a 
council of war was being held. The council did not end until one 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 23 


o'clock in the morning but before the break of day the indomitable 
woman had made a dash toward the mountains, delivered her informa- 
tion to Colonel Ashby and returned to the home of her relatives. 
While stationed at Front Royal, the Union forces expected to 
make a concerted attack upon General Jackson’s army. Belle knew of 
the project but was unable to formulate a plan by which she could in- 
form her friends. Becoming desperate, she dashed on foot toward the 


Fat Man’s Misery in Coldwater Canyon 
The illustration shows how the sandstone rock was built up layer on layer and 
the gulch was later made by the incessant gnawing of the stream. 


Confederate camp amid a shower of bullets from Federal sharpshooters. 
One of the bullets pierced her clothing but this only served to hasten 
her flying feet. She accidentally fell just beforesthe bursting of a shell 
and the incident saved her life. She carried her important information 


24 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


to the Confederates and the result was a victory for General Jackson. 
Soon after this she was arrested but later was released. 

An attempt to send a message by means of an old watch from 
which the mechanism had been removed, caused her to become a pris- 
oner in the old Capitol at Washington. She was tried by court-martial, 
found guilty and stood within the shadow of death for a time, but after 
an imprisonment of seven months was given her freedom in exchange 
for that of Colonel Corcoran of New York. She was sent to Richmond 
and during the next few months this black-eyed, sharp-featured, quick- 
tongued woman was received as a guest in various homes in a number 
of Southern cities, finally returning to Martinsburg, her old home. 

About this time the tide of warfare turned toward Gettysburg. 
Martinsburg fell under the control of the Union forces and by Secre- 
tary Stanton’s order, Belle Boyd was again placed under arrest. 

“Don’t let her get near enough to any one to talk,” ran his order. 
“She’ll charm the heart out of his body.” 

Safely under lock and key in Carroll prison in Washington, pleas 
from her friends begging for her release brought no result from Sec- 
retary Stanton. She was again obliged to stand trial, was found guilty 
and sentenced to hard labor in Fitchburg prison. This sentence, how- 
ever, was commuted and she was released and ordered to go South 
never to return North. 

After some time Belle is discovered taking passage on the Grey- 
hound for England, a British blockade runner commissioned by Jeffer- 
son Davis to obtain funds abroad. The Greyhound was captured by 
the Connecticut, a Union boat, and Belle Boyd, instead of becoming a 
prisoner, exerted her fascinating personality to the end that she was 
considered a passenger on board the boat. She here became acquainted 
with Lieutenant Samuel Hardinge who very soon fell a victim to her 
charms and became putty in her hands. She was sent from Boston to 
Canada from whence she sailed to England and was married to Lieu- 
tenant Hardinge in London, the episode creating an international sen- 
sation. Lieutenant Hardinge returned to the, United States, was taken 
prisoner but was later released. His death occurred in 1869. While 
in London Belle suffered many privations and received aid from various 
English sympathizers of the Southern cause. During her stay she 
wrote a book entitled, “Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison.” 

At the close of the war between the Union forces and the soldiers 
of the Confederacy, Lieutenant Hardinge returned to England. Presi- 
dent Johnson granted a general amnesty and, with his wife, the lieu- 
tenant again sought American soil. They had been in the country but 
a short time when upon some pretext or fancied cause Belle obtained 
a divorce from the man who had sacrificed so much for her. 

After divorcing Lieutenant Hardinge, the former spy essayed to 
try the stage and became the leading woman at the Academy of Music 
in New Orleans. Not long after this she was married to Colonel John 
Swainston Hammond. It is recorded that her adventurous life had in 
no decree lessened her beauty or tempered her charms. She was at the 
time of her second marriage still a beautiful woman, retaining much of 
the fascination of her girlhood. 

The Hammond marriage resulted in little less than tragedy. Fol- 
lowing it Belle was for a time a patient in an asylum for the insane. 
Her husband, a heavy drinker, became a confirmed drunkard and the 
couple drifted apart, divorce finally ending the sorrowful chapter in 
their lives. The mother, following the legal separation, retained the 
custody of their children. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 25 


Once again Belle Boyd entered the bonds of matrimony. The last 
husband was Nathaniel R. High, son of a Toledo clergyman. She re- 
turned to the stage, either lecturing or as an actress, and while pre- 
paring to appear in a drama at Kilbourn was taken ill. On the evening 
of June 11, 1900, she lay suffering in a room above the hotel office in 
the Hile House. Realizing her condition was serious, her husband 
hurried for Dr. G. W. Jenkins, but before medical aid came the pictures- 
que career of Belle Boyd was over. “Give me my crucifix out of my 
handbag,” she said to Mrs. Hile. After clasping the cross she mur- 
mured to the landlady, “Please take my hand.” That was the end. 

The funeral of “this sweet flower of the Confederacy,” as she was 
known in the South, was held in the Episcopal Church in Kilbourn. 
For some time after her burial the grave remained unmarked. 
Finally Mrs. Ed. Bullis and Mrs. Guy Pierce, members of the Woman’s 
Relief Corps in Kilbourn, purchased a board on which was placed the 
following inscription: 


One Flag. One Country. 
Marie Isabel High 
“Belle Boyd” 
Confederate Spy 
Born May 9, 1843 
Died June 11, 1900 


The temporary memorial was erected by Guy O. Glazier, now of 
El Cajon, California. 

Later a stone was purchased by W. A. Everman of Greenville, 
Mississippi, and this bears an inscription as shown in the illustration. 

Now with each returning Memorial Day, northern hands decorate 
this grave as tenderly as they do the graves of *hose who wore the 
blue. 

Almost a Senator 


In this same cemetery sleeps Jonathan Bowman who was within 
two votes of becoming a United States Senator. In 1881, on the forty- 
eighth ballot in a Republican caucus at Madison, Angus Cameron of 
La Crosse, received 51 and Jonathan Bowman 49 votes. The latter was 
in his bank in Kilbourn at the time and had he been at Madison would 
no doubt have won the distinction. Jonathan Bowman was one of the 
founders of Newport, a deserted village three miles down the river. 

Relative of John Brown 

Another grave in this cemetery is that of Salmon Brown, a nephew 
of John Brown of Harper’s Ferry fame. Frederick Brown, the father 
of Salmon Brown and brother of John Brown, is buried at Reedsburg. 
They formerly resided in the town of Dellona, between Kilbourn and 
Reedsburg. The Browns are lineal descendants of Peter Brown who 
came over in the Mayflower in 1620. 


Indian Mounds Near Kilbourn 


About three miles southeast of Kilbourn where the highway crosses 
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks, there are a number 
of Indian mounds. The first of these, the Crossing Group, consists of 
six conical mounds on an elevation near the road at the river crossing. 
Across the creek to the south and near the highway is a conical mound 


26 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


and along the river bank, quite close to it, otter mounds may be seen, 
the last ho!ding a commanding view on the high bank. The cultivated 
land between the farm house and railroad track shows evidences of 
hav.ng been a village site. 

In the woods east of the Crossing Group are fifteen earthworks, 
two effigy, three linear, and ten oval or burial mounds. These are 
known as the Gale Group, for Miss Hattie Gale of Kilbourn. 


The Old Dell House 
The Old Dell House in the Dells was erected in 1837-38 by Robert V. Allen, the 
first house on the river above Portage. It has long since disappeared. Photograph 
from the Bennet Studio, Kilbourn. 


Partly in a cultivated field and partly in the woods to the north- 
east may be seen the Bennett Group, named for the late H. H. Ben- 
nett of Kilbourn. He it was who made the Dells widely known through 
his wonderful photography. Of these Indian memorials the most 
striking mound in the group is a bird (nerth side of the woods) having 
a wing spread of 295 feet. 

Between the Crossing Group and Kilbourn are two mounds on the 
Ole Helle place. 


Water Powers in the Baraboo Region 


Kilbourn dam, Wisconsin River, 15,000 horse power. 

Prairie du Sac dam, Wisconsin River, 25,000 horse power. 

Island Woolen Mill, Baraboo, Baraboo River, 350 horse power. 

McArthur dam, Baraboo, Baraboo River, 150 horse power. 

City Power Plant, Baraboo, Baraboo River, 200 horse power. 

McArthur dam, town of Greenfield, Baraboo River, 100 horse pow- 
er. 

Woolen Mill, Reedsburg, Baraboo River, 100 horse power. 


CHAPTER II 


Lower Dells—Site of a Deserted Village— 
Indian Earthworks—W here 
They Danced 


JT OT so picturesque as the Upper Dells, nevertheless very interest- 
ing, the Lower Dells extend two or three miles below the hydro- 
electric plant at Kilbourn. The river is broader than above and the 
rocks have been cut away to a greater extent, leaving them hollowed 
and worn into many unusual shapes. The most fantastic forms are far 
down the stream. The Lower Dells may be visited by boat or may be 
carefully examined by walk- 
ing along the shore in the 
vicinity of the deserted  vil- 
lage of Newport. 

In the order of their ap- 
pearance, the objects of in- 
terest are met, as one de- 
scends the river, as follows: 

At Echo Point, where 
Taylor’s Glen is crossed by 
the railroad and, standing at 
the mouth of the tunnel, one 
may hear his voice come 
back as a boomerang out of 
space. 

Bear’s Cave is a recess a 
little lower on the same side 
of the river. 

Chimney Rock much re- 
sembles the one in the Upper 
Dells, except for size, and is 
located just below’ Bear’s 
Cave. 

Pulpit’ “Rock, -ts.2at--the 
water’s edge hard by. 

Observation Point gives 
a view of a magnificent land- 
scape. 

Stultz Rock, on the op- 
posite side of the stream, was 
The Hawk’s Bill a terror to raftsmen, their 

craft often being whirled to 


destruction at this treacherous location. 

The Hawk’s Bill boldly exposes itself to view, the point being 
known for many years as Signal Peak. 

The Sugar Bowl, Steamboat Rock, Inkstand, and Lone Rock stand 
amid the swirling waters of the stream, boldly battling with the forces 
of erosion. They are hard cores which have been left as the river cut 


its way to the present level. 
27 


28 BARABOO, DELLS,. AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


The Cave of the Dark Waters, called by the Indians, Nah-huh-nah, 
is an interesting place for the boat to pause. 

Grotto Rock and other places of interest will be pointed out by the 
boatman as the craft glides along. 


A Deserted Village 


Newport, once a bustling place, boasting of two thousand frontiers- 
men and their families, now a deserted village site with but a few cellar 
holes to vouch for its past glory, was located where the highway, ex- 
tending east from Delton, joins the Wisconsin River road. The pioneer 
village was at the head of navigation, this being given as the excuse for 
its appearance, and after an ephemeral existence of but a few years, 
passed so completely from view that little remains but a ghostly recol- 
lection of the place. 

Here the rivermen found a breathing place when they re-assembled 
their rafts after running the cribs through the gauntlet of the Dells, 
here the river steamers halted to unburden their cargoes and assume 
new responsibilities for the downward trip, and here the overland 
stages drew up at the great Steele tavern to enable the passengers to 
set foot on the new El Dorado. . There was first a limited village plat 
which included a few blocks, but as the excitement grew, divisions and 


Water Spirit Indian Mound 


This effigy mound is about 174 feet long and is located at the rear of the R. W. 
McFarland cottage, Newport, Lower Dells of the Wisconsin. For the significance of 
Indian mounds read the chapter on the Man Mound. 


sub-divisions were added until there was danger of engulfing the vil- 
lage of Delton and adjacent territory. Far and near those with specu- 
lative turn purchased lots and blocks in the upstart town, only to have 
the castle of disappointment fall about their ears. 

One day the gasconading inhabitants wore expressions of assur- 
ance, the railroad, then approaching, would cross the river into their 
very midst. Some of them did not hesitate to place fabulous valuations 
on their property, but ere they were aware land had been purchased 
where Kilbourn is located. The railroad company refused to pay the 
prices asked for the right of way and station site, and a rival village 
sprang up almost in a night, dashing the hopes of the residents in New- 
port. When the railroad was built on the east side of the river, their 
spirits went to the depths. An effort was made to revive the hopes of 
those with homes there, and one night there was a real “resurrection.” 
Speeches were made in defiance of the railroad magnates who dared to 
attempt to obliterate their existance, songs were sung to cheer the 
crestfallen, and a mammoth cake, blazing with many candles, graced 
the banquet board. 

All efforts were without avail, however, and it was not long before 
there was a procession of buildings moving like prehistoric monsters 
across the landscape, to Kilbourn and elsewhere. Where there was 
much dancing and delight there is now naught but an air of desertion 
and dreams. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 29 


Although Newport is as dead as Caesar, something of interest still 
remains about the site. North of the bridge which spans Dell Creek 
are clumps of lilac bushes, flanking half-filled cellar holes, where once 
stood pioneer homes, the lilacs persisting since the removal of the vil- 
lage in the early sixties. Trees have taken possession of the main 
street of the town, and where the proud villagers once discussed their 
fortunes and misfortunes, there is sylvan quietude. 

The Steele Tavern stocd where the Delton road joins the main 
highway. This was one of the famous frontier places of entertainment 
for travelers, journeying by stage or prairie schooner from Milwaukee 
to La Crosse. For many years, long after the last inhabitant had re- 
luctantly left Newport, the homely hostelry defied wind and weather 
until decay was devouring in every part. Although it had stood as a 


Sugar Bowl 


Gradually the river has carried away the surrounding material, leaving the harder 
sandstone, a picturesque object, forever battling with the current of the stream. 


landmark for a generation or more, it was necessary at last to have it 
pulled down and carted away. 

During the hop-growing times of the mid-sixties, pickers took pos- 
session of the rambling old tavern, using it to protect them from in- 
clement weather and as a place for frolicsome dances after the day’s 
duties were done. Here resounded the violin, and the prompter’s voice, 
above the music and gliding feet, was heard, calling the quadrille, “The 
Girl I Left Behind Me:” 


“First couple lead to the right, 

Stop right there and balance; ; 
Pass right through and balance, too, 
And swing with the girl behind you. 

Right and left four.” 


The main thoroughfare of old Newport extended along what is 
now the highway from near the foot of the terminal moraine to the 
bridge across Dell Creek. Relics and foundation stones of the tavern 


30 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


and cellar holes of the dwellings may yet be discerned very clearly in 
this section of the pioneer village. North of the bridge the street ex- 
tended over the hill, through what has since become a wood. A num- 
ber of swarded cellar holes may now be seen bordering this deserted 
way. One of the depressions nearest the creek marks the site of the 
Jenkins’ drug store, and at the bottom of the hill to the north a large 
cavity denotes the location of a warehouse, near the boat-landing. T. 
Hoffman risked his all in a brewery, east of the thoroughfare and had 
a beer vault, cut in the solid rock on the west side, directly across the 
way. This cavern is near the brow of the hill, a little south of the site 


Bridge Across Dell Creek, Newport 


The confluence of the above named stream and the Wisconsin may be seen in the 
distance. 


of the warehouse. In this rock cave the brewer ripened his bibulous 
product for the intemperate tipplers of the village and region round- 
about. é 


Along the main street strode the founders of the town, discussing 
the news of the day, the affairs of the village, the exploits of the rafts- 
men in running rafts through the Dells and listening to stories of ad- 
venturers who had penetrated the Indian wilds beyond the Mississippi 
River and returned with thrilling tales of their travels. It was on this 
street that the village quidnuncs, speculators and politicians entertained 
one another with dreams of power and affluence and indulged their 
propensity for the broad humor of the frontier. 


Here it was that rivermen frolicked away their wages at the nine 
or more saloons, fiddling and dancing in homes and halls, often parad- 
ing up and down the street like arrant braggarts. They were men of. 
iron, proof against all kinds of weather, accustomed to hard fare, and 
no strangers to perils on land or water. The superiority of these river- 
men in the town, when they congregated there in the spring at the time 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 31 


of running the rapids, was tacitly admitted. Not a few had acquired 
an abundant store of thrilling experiences on the frontier which 
furnished endless entertainment to village listeners. 

From the bridge over Dell Creek northward, a path creeps along 
the river brink in a piquantly irregular way. This is not an Indian 
trail but where the raftsmen “gigged’” back. They brought their 
charges through the Dells, a rapids piece usually consisting of seven 
cribs. Three pieces composed a raft and in the quiet waters at New- 
port the parts were again assembled to continue down the stream. At 
times the river was filled with lumber extending almost from shore to 
shore. The last raft came down the river in 1880. 

Over on the highway to the left, a quarter of a mile from the Dell 
Creek bridge, stands Dawn Manor, the old Vanderpool residence, re- 
modeled by the late S. H. Kerfoot of Chicago and occupied by the 
family as a summer home. It is the only dwelling remaining in this 
section of the village. 


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Map IV. The Lower Dells (Newport) Region 


(1) Sugar Bowl, Steamboat Rock, Inkstand, and Lone Rock in the Wisconsin 
River. (2) Terminal moraine. The trail between Bald Head and the river is a de- 
lightful woodland walk. (3) Site of the Steele Hotel. (4) Residence of House family 
and site of Steele sawmill on bank of Dell Creek. (5) Oval near mouth of Dell Creek 
is location of ferry landing, one farther up is location of boat landing, and one near- 
est highway represents location of a number of cellar holes and cave of Hoffman 
brewery, where beer was ripened. The trail along the river is a delightful one. (6) 
Indian village site, fireplace stones still abundant. Abraham Vanderpool (Kerfoot) 
residence is near the highway. The Mary Lyon Seminary was northwest of residence. 
(7) Brick residence at end of street during Newport’s busy days. (8) Road to Del- 
ton. Distillery was where ‘8’’ appears. The site of the Kingsbury mill is indicated 
by the circle at the top of the map. 


On the lawn at the Vanderpool house soldiers of the Civil War 
drilled and a little to the north steod the Mary Lyon Seminary. The 
bell from the building is now used by one of the churches in Kilbourn. 

Passing the bridge or other favored spots on the shore, one may 
see fishermen contentedly waiting for a pickerel or pike, oblivious to the 
passing of time and the passer-by. 

Across the river lay a portion of the village, a ferry being a con- 
venient mode of crossing the stream. The landing on the west side 
was but a very few rods above the confluence of the creek with the 
river, and a scooped-out cavity in the bank denotes where there was 
once lively passing. The road from the bridge leads down the bank 
to the ferry landing. 

An occasional steamboat plowed its way up the river, the landing 
being several rods above the mouth of Dell Creek. The place is op- 
posite one of the largest cellar holes, all that remains of a warehouse 


32 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


of the early days. 

The cellar holes may be found over a considerable territory, one 
or two remaining in the field far toward Trunk Highway 12. The 
brick farmhouse on the Baraboo-Kilbourn road, nearly a mile from the 
river, marks the head of a street when Newport was in its prime. 

In these cellar holes lie buried the hopes and aspirations of many a 
merchant or villager. 


Indian Earthworks 


At the rear of the R. W. McFarland cottage, south of Dell Creek, 
may be seen an Indian earthwork of the water spirit type. In the days 
when Newport flourished, the land about the mound was used as a 
lumber yard and in that way the aboriginal relic escaped the stir and 
tribulations of the place. 

A few rods to the south, at the rear of other cottages, the rem- 
nant of another mound may be seen. 


A Woodland Walk 


A few rods to the southeast from the cottages, over a stile or two 
and across a ravine, runs a road through the deep woods, crowded with 
juniper, pine, oaks, birches, maples, and basswood. Here one finds a 
delightful walk of a little less than a mile, traversing the arboreal slope, 
the sandy river bed, to a weathered rock which, at flood-time, is an 
island in the stream. From a projecting point one obtains a view of 
the Sugar Bowl, Steamboat Rock, Ink Stand, Lone Rock and other 
delights of the Lower Dells. 

Just south of the wooded road, at no great distance from the cot- 
tages, Bald Head lifts itself above the surrounding landscape, richly 
rewarding one if he decides to gain its treeless crest. The terminal 
moraine runs south of the sylvan way, the Wisconsin River cutting 
through the ridge where the path approaches the stream. Beyond the 
river and railroad may be seen the high bank of drift. 

Newport was a noisy, busy place, crowded with adventurers seek- 
ing the gold at the foot of the elusive rainbow, stirred with martial 
music as the soldiers of the sixties drilled on the Vanderpool green and 
departed for southern fields, alive with rivermen who came and went 
with the departing of each vernal season, but the stillness that broods 
over it today gives no hint of the stirring past. 

The rivermen, trappers, landlords, merchants, soldiers, travelers 
and others who trod her streets have vapored out their brief hour and 
disappeared, leaving naught behind but receding records and vanished 
hopes. Although Newport in the days of her prosperity was the size 
of Kilbourn today, the time will soon come when not a single name 
once famous in the town will be known. 

It is no wonder summer visitors seek this spot in increasing num- 
bers year after year. The charm of lingering associations is over it and 
the river pathway and numberless sequestered nooks offer diversion 
and rest while the river extends a perpetual invitation to disciples of 
Walton as well as to those who enjoy the fascinations of scenery. 


CHAr Death 


Mirror Lake, Retreat of a Circusman— 
Earlier Bed of Dell Creek—Congress 
Hall Near Village 


Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face 
Could on the dark-blue mirror trace. 
—Lady of the Lake. 


T the edge of the village of Delton, ten miles north of Baraboo, 

on Trunk Highway 12, Dell Creek once flowed unhampered 
through a narrow canyon of unusual beauty. When a dam was thrown 
across the slender stream, a lovely lake, whose placid bosom mirrors 
daily the changing verdure of its banks, was created, some three miles 
in length. Boatmer make regular trips on the lake, always before 
nightfall as the narrow course requires expert piloting. So quiet are 


Mid-Summer Scene on Mirror Lake 


One has the joy of getting close to nature when taking a ride in launch or rowboat. 


the waters that every detail of sky and shore and passing craft is re- 
flected therein; often there is not a ripple, not a cat’s-paw to mar the 
mirror. The banks, which are high and rocky, are covered with a 
dense growth of pine, cedar, hemlock and many other varieties of tim- 
ber. Underneath is a wonderful carpet of fern and wild flowers from 
the meshes of which an occasional rabbit or squirrel emerges, or the 
drumming of a partridge is heard. 


Many cottages are hidden among the trees, only a few being visi- 
ble from the water’s edge. Most of them have an outlook over the lake 
but are not easily discerned through the wealth of foliage. Occasion- 


ally one is seen perched on an outstanding rock, thereby gaining a 
33 


34 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


charming view of the lake. The resinous atmosphere created by the 
heavy growth of pine is particularly refreshing to the city dwellers who 
come to this lake in increasing numbers, season after season. The 
slopes of the lake are the home of the trailing arbutus whose delicate 
pink blossoms, half-exposed, half hidden, are eagerly sought by early 
spring visitors. 


Congress Hall 
Canyons are the age-long product of a stream scouring a path through the re- 
sisting rock. 


Of cultivated land one sees but little, and that in the hazy distance. 
The axe has remained at a respectful distance from the shore, leaving 
the slopes natively clad. 

The best fishing grounds lie where the lake throws an arm to the 
left, as one ascends the wild, watery defile. Usually one may see 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 35 


disciples of Walton grasping their rods, indifferent to the torrid sun or 
drenching rain. The patient anglers cast their lines right and left, fre- 
quently luring an unsuspecting bass or smaller fry from the undis- 
turbed depths. 

Before glacial ice covered a great portion of Wisconsin, Dell Creek 
probably flowed in a southeasterly direction through a gap in the north 
range of the Baraboo Bluffs and emptied into the Baraboo River at 
Baraboo. Its old bed being filled, in a manner similar to the Wiscon- 
sin River near the Dells, it was forced to seek a new course, cutting a 
canyon through the sandstone formation. 


Places of Interest 


A trip from end to end brings into view the following interesting 
features: 

The Devil’s Postoffice in a recess at the mouth of a ravine. 

The Devil’s Five Fingers, the only portion that is visible of a 
sunken tree. The limbs have been protruding from the water for al- 
most half a century. 

Echo Rock, a high promontory on the left. A distinct echo is 
heard opposite this interesting feature. 

Fern Dell, one of the most attractive.nooks in the whole region. 
‘ The narrow valley, with overhanging crags, a wealth of fern clinging 
like a carpet to the rocky surface, and pines and birches standing thick- 
ly along the straitened way, is an ideal retreat on a summer’s day. 

The completion, in 1921, of a commodious hotel in Delton by Mrs. 
Eliza Ringling, adds to the convenience of those desiring to visit Mir- 
ror Lake, which has become a much favored resort. Mrs. Ringling’s 
late husband, Al. Ringling, eldest of the circusmen, spent many de- 
lightful days in his cottage in the wood at the upper end of this attrac 
tive inland body of water. 


Congress Hall 


A short distance east of the village of Delton, on the south side 
of the highway leading to the Wisconsin river, is Congress Hall. Here 
a rivulet has cut a ravine through the layers of sandstone. Early in the 
spring a creek finds its way through the narrow gorge, but in late sum- 
mer, after the May showers and June rains have passed, one may ex- 
plore the elongated, eroded canyon without inconvenience from mois- 
ture. The Hall is wildly broken and a winding path leads from the en- 
trance to the outlet above. Often there are spacious openings as if for 
rooms, narrow passages leading into other chambers ample for a con- 
gress to gather within them. These views are quite different from 
others in the region and well repay a visit. 

Although the limit of the ice during the glacial epoch was but a 
short distance to the east and although there was an abundance of 
water at that time, yet geologists hold that Congress Hall is the work 
of a post-glacial stream. 


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Map V. The Baraboo Region 


Note the terminal moraine extends eastward from Devil’s Lake like a _ giant’s 
hand. In the little cemetery on the terminal moraine are buried descendants of Wil- 
liam Brewster who came over, in 1620, in the Mayflower. See additional walks about 
Devil’s Lake in chapter on Devil’s Lake. 


CHAPTER IV 


Devil’s Lake State Park—Geology of the 
Hills—T he Glacial Epoch—Scenic 
Wonders 


EVIL’S LAKE is one of the outstanding places of beauty and won- 

der in this region of charm and interest. The placid body of water, 
with talused slopes and encroaching moraines, is the central object in 
Devil’s Lake State Park, a tract of land containing more than a thou- 
sand acres. Few of the 
visitors who come into the 
region escape the lure of 
this wonderful playground. 

The Park is reached by 
traversing three miles of 
concrete road from  Bara- 
boo, the highway made 
possible through a _ bequest 
of $40,000 by the late 
W. W. Warner of Madison, 
an early resident of Bara- 
boo. The contract for build- 
ing the road was awarded 
in 1919, and the work was 
completed in 1921. The 
total cost of the highway 
was in excess of $100,000, 
Wisconsin, Sauk County, 
‘Baraboo, and town of Bara- 
Doo Scromitirwp ot tee 
the amount unprovided for 
in the will. 


Soon after leaving the 
city; about a -duarter of a 
mile to the right, may be 
seen a stack of iron ore at 
the abandoned Cahoon 
Mine. The mine was open- 
ed in 1911 and closed in 
1919 after more than a mil- 
lion dollars had been ex- 
pended. The Baraboo Val- 
ley from end to end_ has 
been pierced with the dia- 
mond drill and iron ore has 
been found beneath the sur- 
face in all the region, often 
at a depth of 400 feet. Two 
mines, abandoned because 

Leaning Rock, East of Doorway of low grade, small ore 
bodies, and water troubles, may be seen southwest of North Freedom 
and flowing wells here and there tell of the millions expended by vari- 
ous companies in vain efforts to persuade mother earth to yield her 
riches. SY 


38 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Just before entering the Park one’s attention is called to the view 
on the left extending to the Lower Narrows of the Baraboo River and 
beyond to the Caledonia Hills. Within the Park the vista through the 
arboreal avenue is unique, immobile rocks on the right and a charming 
wooded slope to the left. 


At the first turn, within the wood, a schistose structure outcrops to 
the right. (This schistose is metamorphosed quartzite and traverses 
the rock mass to the west, outcropping in the Skillet Creek Narrows 
and on the West Sauk Road, Trunk Highway 12, almost two miles dis- 
tant.) Nearer the lake conglomerate (boulders and rock cemented to- 
gether, sometimes termed pudding stone), and sandstone may be ob- 


Lynx Mound 


This Indian effigy mound is situated on the terminal moraine at the north end of 
Devil’s Lake. For the significance of Indian mounds see the chapter on the Man 
Mound in this booklet. 


served. In the wall to the left, almost opposite the mountain path, 
where it leaves the concrete road, a*fine example of a boulder bearing 
ripple marks may be seen. (The presence of ripple marks in the rock 
is explained farther on in this article.) The highway through the wood 
and to the point where it descends the hill, is on the top of the terminal 
moraine, the limit of the ice sheet during the glacial epoch. The first 
glimpse of the lake, half-hidden by the trees below, is caught from the 
moraine, over the Claude cottage. 

On top of this ridge, toward the railroad, near where the highway 
begins to descend, lies an effigy Indian mound, an outline of which is 
here shown. 


A Geological Wonder of the World 


From the standpoint of the geologist Devil's Lake may well be 
regarded as a “wonder of the world”; in few other accessible localities 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 39 


can so many features illustrating so many different processes in the 
making of the earth be studied in so small a district. The work of fire, 
water, air, plants, and animals finds expression in the long and varied 
history of the region. 

At the earliest time of which the record can be deciphered the 
region was a mountain range. Volcanoes poured out lava flows (por- 
phyry or rhyolite); other molten rocks did not reach the surface but 
cooled slowly to make rocks like granite or diorite which were once 
deeply buried. Other rocks were squeezed by slow upheaval of the 
earth’s crust until their original state cannot now be determined; these 
are called gneiss and schist. Geologists term this period Archean. 
Little or no life then existed. 


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Warner Memorial Road 


Wisconsin has few vistas more lovely than the ones which may be seen along this 
highway in Devil’s Lake State Park. 


The Archean mountains were attacked by streams; heat and cold 
broke up the rocks, and in time they were worn down to a low plain 
made of granite and porphyry. Then the land sank and the sea came 
in over the plain. At first sand was deposited and the waves left ripple 
marks on the soft bottom of the shallow sea. The visitor of today can 
find many of these well preserved on the rocks of the bluffs. The sea 
became deeper after nearly a mile of sand had been deposited, then 
mud was laid down to a thickness of several hundred feet. Next the 
waters became charged with iron, probably because of volcanic dis- 
turbances nearby, and a deposit of iron oxide and silica was made; this 
is called iron formation. After this, limestone was deposited, possibly 
by minute animals or plants. These deposits were formed in the AI- 
gonkian period. 

The Algonkian deposits were brought above the sea by compres- 
sion of the earth’s crust which threw them into great folds. Near 


40 BARASOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Devii’s Lake the layers were tilted to an angle of only about 15 degrees 
but farther north they were made vertical as at: Ableman and the Bara- 
boo city quarry. The great folds must have been thousands of feet in 
height. As they were slowly upheaved, the agents of weathering and 
erosion worked on them making mountains as rugged as any of the 
Rockies. Pressure and water seeping through the rocks, meantime, 
changed the sand into quartzite by the deposition of silica between the 
grains; the clay hardened into slate, and the limestone into marble. 
Finally after untold ages the Algonkian mountains were almost wholly 
worn away; the quartzite resisted longer than the other rocks and this 
is why the Baraboo bluffs survived. Rib Hill and many other large 
bluffs in northern Wisconsin also owe their origin to the same cause. 


Devil’s Doorway 


This is one of the wonders at Devil’s Lake which has been ground out by erosion 
in the hopper of time. Every visitor should see the Devil’s Doorway.—Trimpey photo. 


The rest of the region was cut down to a fairly level surface called a 
peneplain. The iron formation was weathered and impurities partially 
dissolved away leaving some iron ore. 

During the Cambrian period the land once more slowly sank be- 
neath the sea. The Baraboo bluffs which formed a ‘monadnock” on 
the old peneplain thus became islands. Waves beat against them, 
breaking off and rolling rocks on the beach. Sand was deposited mak- 
ing the conglomerate and sandstone rocks now seen at the Cave, at 
Ableman, Parfrey’s Glen, and elsewhere. Remains of small sea ani- 
mals were buried in these rocks. Deposition continued throughout the 
Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian periods to such an extent that be- 
fore the waters withdrew the islands were completely buried unde1 
sandstone, limestone, and shale (see geological column, last chapter in 
this booklet). This time no mountains were formed but the uplift was 
quiet and gentle. The new land was a plain upon which rivers began 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 41 


to form their beds. Among them was the Wisconsin River. As this 
river cut into the rather soft rocks, it at length came to the hard quartz- 
ite of East Bluff. This formed an obstruction and therefore a rapids 
at the foot of which pot holes were scoured out by swirling pebbles. 
These are seen on the top of East Bluff; the pebbles contain fossils of 
the Silurian period showing that rocks of that age, which are now not 
found nearer than Blue Mounds, once covered the entire region. North 
and south of the Baraboo quartzite bluffs the Wisconsin River and its 
tributaries cut wide valleys in the relatively soft sandstone and lime- 
stone. Where the river crossed the quartzite it was fortunate in find- 
ing for part of its course an old valley made before Cambrian time and 
filled with softer rock, sandstone, than on either hand. This valley it 
cleared out and deepened; only a part of the Devil’s Lake gorge was 
eroded through quartzite since Silurian times. A large part of the old 
quartzite hills were stripped of the covering of softer rocks. The bluffs 


ee ee 


Turk’s Head 


Thousands of tourists testify to the wonderful charm and beauty of the scene 
from this quartzite formation overlooking Devil’s Lake. 


are often spoken of as the resurrected roots of old mountains, moun- 
tains far older than the Rockies, Alps, or Appalachians. The Devil’s 
Lake valley was then about 900 feet deep. Traversed by a great river 
and lined with slopes of huge quartzite blocks loosened by frost it must 
have been a scene rivaling in grandeur anything in most mountain lis- 
tricts, but one on which human eyes never rested. . 


Then came the glacier, creeping from the north down the Green 
Bay valley and spreading out so that it approached Devil’s Lake from 
slightly north of east. The ice overtopped the quartzite as far west as 
Point Sauk and on the lower ground two tongues extended _ several 
miles farther west, one of them over the site of Baraboo, the other up 
the old Wisconsin Valley north of Devil’s Nose. At the edge of the 
ice there accumulated a huge ridge of boulders, sand, gravel, and earth, 


42 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


the terminal moraine. The moraine of the last glacier stretches all the 
way from Long Island across to the Rocky Mountains. Owing to the 
splitting over Point Sauk and Devil’s Nose it crossed the old course of 
the Wisconsin River twice within a space of a mile and a half (see 
Map V). Between these two crossings a basin was left whose floor is 
about 400 feet above the rock bottom of the valley. In this basin lies 
Devil’s Lake. The wind then carried dust from the newly deposited 
drift and coated much of the bluffs with a yellowish clay called loess. 


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Indian Mounds 


This group of one effigy and five linear earthworks is located at the north end 
of Devil’s Lake. The two near the railroad may have been one mound- severed when 
the line was built. 


_ Thus it has come about that within a few miles the student can 
observe the records of two ancient mountain chains, can study the de- 
position of rocks by the sea, the work of weathering and erosion, of 
mountain making, vulcanism, and glaciation. The district is visited 
every year by classes from the universities of Chicago, Wisconsin, Ilk- 
nois, Northwestern, and Iowa. © 


The great boulders about the lake are not the result of a sudden 
upheaval nor were they brought here by a glacier. They are the re- 
sult of the material supporting them being carried away by erosion, 


permitting them to fall as you see them about the lake at the present 
time. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 43 


The Lake at Present 


The following applies to the lake as it is today: 

Above sea level—about 960 feet. 

Above the river at Baraboo—about 120 feet. 

Height of West Bluff above the lake—about 500 feet. 

Height of East Blutf above the lake—a little less than 500 feet, near 
the lake, 660 feet at Point Sauk. 

Height of South Bluff—at Devil’s Nose, 495 feet. 

Source of supply—springs and two small creeks. 

Outlet—evaporation and seepage. 

Area draining into the lake—about 5% square miles. 

Greatest length—114 miles. 

Average width—2,200 feet or 2-5 of a mile. 

Greatest depth—43 feet. 

Average depth—30 feet. 

Circumference—3%4 miles. 

Area—388 acres, or 3-5 of a square mile. 

Volume at low water—3,495,000 gallons. 


Wells at Devil’s Lake 


Three deep wells have been sunk in the Devil’s lake gap, none of 
which reached the ancient river bed. The three wells, with their depth, 


are as follows: 
a bie: 


wAaRnkR 


Indian Mounds 


This group of Indian Mounds is located in front of the Claude cottage at the 
north end of Devil’s Lake. The effigy crossed by the drive has been almost destroyed. 


American Refractories’ Company well, one mile east of lake, 285 
feet. 

State Park well at end of Warner Memorial Road, 283 feet. 

L. D. Prader well several rods due north of last named well, 100 
feet. 


Walks at Devil’s Lake 


But few of the many places of interest at Devil’s Lake may be seen 
trom boat or car. The time required to encircle the lake, following the 
trails over the East and West Bluffs, is about four hours. Every step 
in advance along the wooded ways, every corner among the weathered 


44 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


rocks, every turn of the path as one makes the ascent, discloses points 
of interest in the landscape. By exploring the by-paths about the re- 
gion, one may fill many vacation days walking over these pre-Cambrian 
rocks tumbling down on the hillsides. 


East Bluff Trail 


Between the railroad track and where the path begins its ascent of 
the East Bluff, stood the Cliff House, a pioneer hotel on the shore of 
the lake. In the historic structure many a noted traveler tarried. 
Among these were General U. S. Grant, son Frederick Dent Grant, 


Devil’s Lake From An Aeroplane 


This view shows the dense forest on the south bluff. Baraboo is in the distance. 


later Colonel Grant, who were here September 8, 1880; Mrs. Abraham 
Lincoln in 1873, and many others. The Cliff House was the scene of 
numerous social activities, Baraboo folk often mingling with the visit- 
ors to the region. The famous structure was touched by misfortune 
approaching the tragic in the case of Mrs. Alice Whiting Waterman 
who, in company with P. B. Parsons, refurnished the hostelry. The 
savings of Mrs. Waterman, amounting to some $18,000, were lost in 
the venture. Mrs. Waterman sleeps in “Confederate Rest,’ a lot in 
the Madison cemetery containing the graves of 139 Southern soldiers 
who died while imprisoned at Camp Randall. The last fragment of her 
fortune, some $800, was given to purchase a coping about the lot and 
at her death in 1897, at the age of 77, she was buried there. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 45 


W. B. Pearl was the last landlord of the Cliff House, leaving the 
place in 1904. The hotel, annex and other buildings were razed soon 
after. 

The first pause of interest along the scenic, twisting trail, as one 
ascends this bluff is Elephant Rock. This huge reclining pachyderm 
is an unusual freak of nature’s chisel. The rock is sandstone. 


Just back of Elephant Rock is the Cave, where may be seen some 
of the quartzite boulders rounded by the waves of the ancient Cambrian 
Sea. The top of the quartzite, on which the conglomerate rests, is the 
old sea shore, made smooth by the restless waves of that early time. 
When the conglomerate was laid down the bluffs were islands in the 
ocean and the pebbles of quartzite were worn by the action of the 
water. 


Aeroplane View of Devil’s Lake 
The foreground is at the north end of this charming body of water. 


' Passing onward along the path from Elephant Rock, the pedes- 
trian will see more of the conglomerate as he hugs the cliff, and the 
fantastic roots twining in and out will not be passed unobserved. 


Not far away is Tomahawk Rock, standing erect over the brow of 
the cliff, just as if placed there by some giant of other times. 


Up and down winds the way until a point is reached where the 
ancient river valley turned to the eastward. Half way down the pre- 
cipice, (reached by a fearsome path, but you can make it if you are an 
expert mountaineer) is Balanced Rock, a huge piece of elongated quart- 
zite, shaped much like an inverted dash churn of log cabin days, big at 
the top and little at the bottom. 


From the location of Balanced Rock or from the top of the bluff 
above, may be obtained an airy view of the valley. 

On the south brink of the Bluff, near where the path turns to the 
eastward, may be seen ripple marks in the quartzite, fossils of wave ac- 
tion in early geologic time. 


46 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


To the east a few hundred paces is the Devil’s Doorway, a quaint 
arrangement of rocks left as the result of the washing away of the 
stones and earth through long periods of rain and frost. 

Just east of the Doorway, on top of the Bluff, the careful observer 
will find a number of potholes, rounded places in the hard quartzite. 


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\ TO PINE HOLLOW 


Map VI. Devil's Lake and Surroundings. 


(1) Indian Effigy Mound of the lynx type. (2) Vest Pocket Park. (3) Indian 
mounds; a group of cottages. (5) Alaskan Grotto. By going into the depression 
near the rocks on a warm day one may feel the cold air escaping. (6) Group of In- 


dian mounds. 


These were undoubtedly once in the bed of a river, where a waterfall 
was an interesting object on the landscape. Potholes can be made in 
no way except by running or falling water whirling stones about. 
When the stream was here there could have been no Devil’s Lake gap. 


As the visitor comes to a depression, river gravels are seen, another 


evidence there was once a stream at this height. Concerning these 
pebbles Professors R. D. Sailsbury, William C. Alden, A. C. Trobridge 


and others have written. 
To visit the Leaning Tower one should continue about one-eighth 


of a mile to the eastward. The inclined pile of quartzite rocks, weath- 
ered and circular in form, may be seen by looking over the brink of the 


Bluff. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 47 


The descent of the Bluff is over the river gravels mentioned in the 
preceding paragraph. 

Reaching the trees below and keeping close to the rocks, Alaskan 
Grotto will be seen a few rods to the west. Ifa warm day, go into the 
depression and feel the flood of cold air pouring outward. 


The Great Stone Face 


This unusual object at Devil’s Lake is below the Turk’s Head on the west shore. 


Crossing the railroad track to the shore of the lake, the large bird 
effigy mound will be noted near the hotel, marked by a bronze tablet. 
The length of the body is about 115 feet and the wingspread about 240 
feet. 


West Bluff Trail 


On the West Bluff may be seen Cleopatra’s Needle, the Turk’s 
Head, Great Stone Face (below the Turk’s Head) and other points of 
interest. The top of the bluff is often called Palisade Park, so named 
by A. R. Ziemer who platted several acres with the idea of establishing 
a summer city here. After exploiting the place for two seasons he died 


Three Wonders at Devil’s Lake 


Balanced Rock, Cleopatra’s Needle and Elephant Rock are among the wonders 
wrought by nature’s architect at Devil’s Lake. Elephant Rock is of sandstone, the 
others are of quartzite. Balanced Rock is about half way up the bluff from the boat 
landing at Kirkland, Cleopatra’s Needle is on the West Bluff, and Elephant Rock near 
the cave on the East Bluff. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 49 


in 1895 in his cottage, the ruins of which may be seen near the brink 
south of Prospect Point. His home was in Milwaukee and he was 
educated at the University of Wisconsin. During the same years he 
erected an observation tower north of Prospect Point, Marsh & Jack- 
son building a double cottage and Charles Coleman a smaller one. All 
are now in ruin, a chimney standing like a gray ghost of a departed life. 

From Prospect Point, about half way along the West Bluff, may 
be obtained ore of the delectable panoramas in the region. Standing 
about 500 feet above the surface of the lake, one obtains a view of the 
eastern part of the city of Baraboo, lower portion of the Baraboo Val- 
ley, North Range, Lower Narrows, Pine Bluff (far down the valley), 
Point Sauk (1620 feet high), East Bluff, valley towards Devil’s Nose, 
South Bluff, and other portions of the locality. 


Additional Devil’s Lake Walks 


Besides the walks over the east and west bluffs of the lake, others 
of greater or less length may be taken. Some of them are here indi- 
cated: 


View of Devil’’s Lake 


Beyond moves a giant shadow, like a silent spirit, across the landscape. 


1. To Koshawagos Spring, a short distance from the southwest 
corner of the lake. The spring takes its name from the Koshawagos 
Club House hard by, the name meaning, “Men of the Valley.” By fol- 
lowing the trail up the valley one comes to another spring near the 
path. 

2. One may walk along the East Sauk Road (see map VI) to the 
brink of the hill, two or more miles to the south. Pine Hollow is but 
a short distance to the west. Over this road rolled the Concord stages 
before the advent of the railroad in 1871. 


3. To plant of American Refractories Company one mile east of 
lake. 


4. To Parfrey’s Glen, five miles east of the lake. (See Map V.) 


5. Point Sauk, three miles, and Durward’’s Glen ten miles. Read 
chapter on Durward’s Glen. (See map V.) 


50 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


6. To Indian mounds between the lake and Baraboo, going along 
road east of railroad track. Mounds in woods at rear of house with 
row of six evergreens in front—back from road. 


7. Walk along the road east of railroad track to crossing near 
Baraboo, go east to first road to right after passing school house, and 
follow this road through woods and over stream. (See map V.) 


8. From lake follow Warner Memorial Road a little more than 
half way toward Baraboo, then turn to left to iron mine. 


9. After leaving the park on the Warner Memorial Road, go to 
bottom of hill, then turn due west about one mile. Indian mounds and 
Skillet Creek Narrows will be found to the left. (Leave the highway. at 


[fe 


Scene at Devil’s Lake 


There is nothing this side of the Yellowstone to compare with Devil’s Lake State 
Park in beauty and wonder. The beautiful lake and picturesque rock formations com- 
bine in making one of the foremost playgrounds of the continent, visited by thousands 
of tourists annually. 


the top of a hill overlooking level land to the west.) After traversing 
a lane about one-quarter of a mile in length, a bear mound will be found 
to the left and two other mounds between the bear and the _ stream. 
Note the schistose formation of rock in the narrows. (See map V.) 


10. To Skillet Creek Falls. Enter over fence from the road to the 
south. (See map V.) 

11. To reach Pewit’s Nest follow the same highway, making two 
turns to right and entering at school house. The place is at the end of 
a valley. 

12. Over the south bluff of the lake. The view is largely cut off 
because the trail is back from the brink of the bluff. 

13. To Baxter Hollow, west of Highway 12. To visit this place 
requires af entire day if made by walking. 


’ 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 51 


14. The graves of descendants of William Brewster, who came 
over in the Mayflower in 1620, are in a small cemetery on the terminal 
moraine northeast of Devil’s Lake. (See map V.) Samuel Brewster, 
whose name appears on the stone, died in Indiana, in 1837, and was 
buried there. His wife, Lucy Brewster, died in Greenfield, near the 
cemetery, and was buried there. M. Brewster also died in Indiana and 
was buried there while W. Brewster died on the farm where the ceme- 
tery is located. The stone was placed by Edmund Brewster, who at 
one time attempted to erect a paper mill at one of the Baraboo River 
water powers. 


Other trips about the lake may also be taken. 
Tragedies at Devil’s Lake 


When the great number of people who visit the lake are consid- 
ered, the tragedies have been few. About 1900, a woman bather died 
of heart disease at the south end of the lake and about the same time 


’ 
e 

‘ 
eM ins 
ey WY 


Bird Mound at Kirkland Hotel 


This Indian effigy earthwork has a length of body of about 115 feet and a wing- 
spread of about 240 feet. 


a quarry worker who had imbibed too freely fell into the water one 
night at the north end and lost his life. 

On Sunday afternoon, March 26, 1916, two students from the Uni- 
versity.of Chicago, Miss Caroline Duror, aged 23, of New York City, 
and Miss Lola B. Whitmore, aged 25, of Utica, New York, were struck 
by a train at one of the curves north of the Kirkland Hotel. Both were 
instantly killed, one of the young women being thrown from the track 
upon the ice which then covered the lake. It was a stormy day and the 
two either did not hear the train until too late or thought it was on the 
other track. Trains on the Chicago & Northwestern railway advance 
on the left track, while in the eastern states, from which the two 
students came, the outgoing trains take the right track. Both came to 
the region as geological students. The remains of Miss Duror were 
sent to Camden, New Jersey, and those of Miss Whitmore lie in an 
unmarked grave in the Baraboo cemetery. 

On the night of August 15, 1921, Miss Minnie Voiles, a daughter 
of Mrs. Addie Voiles, Baraboo, and Clarence M. Williams, a son of Mr. 
and Mrs. Michael Williams, Madison, were drowned from a boat not 
far from the West Bluff. A third in the boat, Walter M. Fields, Madi- 


52 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


son, narrowly escaped. After four days the body of the young lady was 
recovered and after five days that of the young man was brought to the 
surface. 

Indian Mounds 


The following Indian mounds may be seen in Devil’s Lake State 
Park: 

Bird effigy at the Kirkland Hotel. 

Lynx effigy on top of the north terminal moraine. 

Group in front of the Claude Cottage, north end of lake. 

Linear between sidewalk and home of superintendent, north end of 
lake. 

Group among cottages east of concrete road. 


Bathing Scene at Devil's Lake 


Where tourists halt in their journey for a plunge into the cool waters along a 
sandy shore. 


All of the mounds but one linear are outlined on these pages. As 
to why the mounds were built see the chapter on The Man Mound. 

The baseball ground, the land between the pavillion and _ the 
stream, was once an Indian village site, pieces of flint, fireplace stones 
and other objects being frequently found there. 


Indian Legends 


The Indians sometimes called Devil's Lake by the name of Ta- 
wah-cun-chuk-dah—Sacred Lake—no bad meaning. 

Here is a tradition: Long years ago a good Winnebago went on 
the bank of the lake, offering his devotions aloud and crying to the Su- 
preme Being for twenty days, fasting meanwhile—when_ he saw an 
animal resembling a cat rise up to the surface. Hearing the Indian’s 
sorrow the cat told him he would help him to live a long and happy 
life. He did live long. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 53 


The prayer or worship was called “haah-tock-ke-nutch.” The 
animal was called Wock-cheth-thwe-dah—with long tail and_ horns. 
Many others also saw this animal. 


Another Indian legend of this lake, obtained from a former Win- 
nebago Indian resident of the region, states that a quarrel arose be- 
tween the waterspirits or underground panthers, (Wa-kja-kee-ra), who 


rr sodudueucnen ts satpro teases eve 
beat a": ers. e neta tarps wes eer ee aan 


ths 


Cliff House, Devil’s Lake 


General U. S. Grant, Mrs. Abraham Lincoln and other notables were once en- 
tertained in this building, pulled down coon after 1904. 


inhabited its depths, and the thunderbirds. The latter, flying above its 
surface hurled their great eggs (thunderbolts) into the waters and on 
the bluffs. The fight continued for days. The falling eggs tore down 
the trees and split off great pieces and masses of rock and the present 
tumbledown and cracked rocky surface of the surrounding bluffs stands 
as evidence of this great struggle. The thunderbirds were finally vic- 
torious and flew away to their homes in the North. No Indian dared 
approach the lake for a long time. The waterspirits were not all kill- 
ed and some remain in the lake to this day. 


54 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


History 


On the early maps the name of the lake is given as Lake of the 
Hills. Of it I. A. Lapham, early Wisconsin traveler and _ scientist, 
wrote: “The lake is vulgarly called Devil’s Lake from the wild, rocky 
place in which it is found.” 

John T. de Le Ronde, born in France in 1802, agent for the Amer- 
ican Fur Company, and a visitor at Devil’s Lake in 1832, the earliest 
record of the lake being visited, wrote, in the History of Columbia 
County, 1880, as follows: 

“T went and saw the Devil’s Lake, which is a little south of the 
village of Baraboo. The lake is surrounded by high bluffs and I could 
not see the sun until about 10 or 11 o’clock in the forenoon, and it 
would disappear from view about 2 or 3 o’clock, so hemmed in by bluffs 
is this romantic body of water. The Indians gave it the name of Holy 
Water, declaring that there is a spirit or Manitou that resides there. I 
saw a quantity of tobacco that the Indians had deposited there for the 
Manitou. The French voyageurs denominated it Devil’s Lake, from 
the sound resembling hammering and tinkling of a bell that we hear all 
the time, and from the darkness of the place.” 

Notwithstanding the statement by de La Ronde, the Indian name 
for Devil’s Lake is usually given as Minnewaukan, or Evil Spirit Lake. 
As the French visitor stated, the lake has unusual echoing powers and 
for this reason, it is said, the Indians supposed the bluffs to be inhab- 
ited by powerful spirits or manitous. 

Nestling near the West bluff is the home of the late L. W. Claude, 
who came from Ambleside, England, to the lake in pioneer times. 
The rugged beauty of the spot recalled the charm of his former home 
in the fascinating Lake Region and, with his family, he enjoyed the 
lake for many years. The interesting home is now occupied by the 
family during the summer season. 

These ragged rocks and towering cliffs are most overpowering 
when viewed from a boat coastng along the western shore of the lake. 

An adequate description of this picturesque spot is not attempted 
here. The life in the lake, the ferns and flowers on the slope, the fur- 
coated and feather-coated friends in the woods, as well as the charm of 
the lake itself in its unusual environment, are left for the enjoyment of 
the visitor. 

“The mountain’s wall in the water, 
It looks-like a great blue cup, 

And the sky looks like another, 
Turned over, bottom side up.” 


ROADS FROM BARABOO TO MADISON 


For variety any of the following routes may be taken in order to 
reach Madison, starting from Baraboo. 

Baraboo, Sauk City, Roxbury, Middleton. 

Baraboo, Sauk City, Mazomanie, Middleton. 

Baraboo, Prairie du Sac, Lodi. 

Baraboo, Prairie du Sac, Gibraltar Bluff, Lodi, Mendota. 

Baraboo, Merrimack (ferry), Lodi, Mendota. 

Baraboo, Portage, Poynette. 

Baraboo, Portage, Wyocena. 


CHAR! Ria 


Paifrey’s Glen, Wildest of Them All, A Cool 
Retreat, Prodigal in Charm 


ARFREY’'S Glen is a rugged gash in the south range of the Bara- 

boo Bluffs. This ravine, an interesting objective for tourists, is 
about a mile down the slope from Wawanissee Point and some five or 
six miles east of Devil’s Lake. It derives its name from Robert Par- 
frey, an early settler. 

The little stream which has cut this wildly beautiful Glen had a 
romantic history of usefulness in the early days. At the present time 
it is secondary in interest to the Glen itself, the first glimpse of which 
enthralls the visitor, urging him to journey to the end. 

The route from Baraboo to Parfrey’s is along the Merrimack road 
in a south-east direction. It leads up a bluff, then down on the opposite 
side, turning to the left and clinging close to the base of the elevation 
for some two miles, until it turns into the farmstead of August Roese, 
located a quarter of a mile north of the main highway. Here the car is 
abandoned. To reach the Glen a tramp of half a mile is necessary, 
along a trail which leads over glacial boulders, across a mountain 
stream, and up a winding way to the opening. The view, as one pro- 
gresses, includes a charming expanse of rich countryside. 


Wildest of Them All 


Compared with other glens of the region, Parfrey’s is by far the 
wildest. The south wall of this ancient cleft in the bluff is almost per- 
pendicular. Only occasionally does an overhanging ledge afford a foot- 
ing for wood creature or habitation for shrub or fern. High above 
pines, birches, oaks and other small timber crowd the brink. The cut 
shows a mass of sandstone and quartzite conglomerate which have 
been exposed through a long period of erosion. The north slope is 
clothed in green. Rugged rocks lie along the purling stream, as if 
cast there by giant hands to impede the pathway. Between them 
flourish ferns, mosses, and an interesting number of native plants. 
Looking down from the top of the opening the water winds in and out 
among the moss-clad stones, like a translucent ribbon, making soft. 
music whose melody is lost as the stream finds its way to the grass- 
land. Many birds haunt the Glen; the indigo bunting, the oriole, and 
scarlet tanager with their brilliant colorings contrast sharply with the 
neutral tones of the rocks. The note of the song sparrow, the trill of 
the thrush, and the less marked twitter of many other songsters are 
heard with delightful frequency. 

This cool retreat, so prodigal in charm and comparatively easy of 
access, should be more widely known than it is to visitors to the Bara- 
boo region. 


~ 


Mill, a Memory 


In the early days the Glen-stream was harnessed to a sawmill lo- 
cated near the ravine. Evidences of the ancient, earthen dam are visi- 
ble to this day. In later years Fred Roper’s gristmill made use of the 
power for some time, serving the surrounding community. A story 
which illustrates the extent of these activities, particularly that of the 
gristmill, is often related. It seems that the miller was one day greatly 

55 


56 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


puzzled at the non-appearance of flour as his wheel ground round and 
round. Searching for the cause, it is said, he finally came upon an in- 
truder, no other than a small gray mouse, wiggling his tail and squeal- 
ing for more, as he devoured the product of the mill as fast as it sifted 


Scene in Parfrey’s Glen 
This view, about five miles east of Devil’s Lake, is considered the wildest in the 
region. 


through. Also it is told that prior to the Civil War, a distillery, by the 
aid of the little stream, converted rye from the neighboring fields into 
“Mountain Dew.” During this time the Glen seemed in grave danger 
of becoming a popular resort for all those suffering with barleycorn 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 57 


thirst and a desire for seclusion. Fortunately for the reputation of the 
locality, a revenue tax on-distilled spirits was imposed and the existence 
of the worm in the wilderness was brief. 

During the time whiskey was made there was more or less travel 
from the direction of the village of Merrimack and the highway became 
known as “the still road.” 

Save for the turt-covered ruins of the ancient dam, all record of 
the early enterprises is obliterated and memories of the Glen’s activi- 
ties alone remain. 


MEMORIALS IN THE BARABOO REGION 


Stone pillar where Chief Yellow Thunder is buried, north of Bara- 
boo. 


Bronze tablet at Man Mound. 
Bronze tablet on Bird Mound in Devil’s Lake State Park. 
Bronze tablet on Lynx Mound in Devil’s Lake State Park. 


Bronze tablets at city limits and Devil’s Lake, end of Warner 
Memorial Road. 


Bronze tablet to first church in Baraboo, corner Broadway and 
Fifth Avenue. 


Bronze tablet to first school in Baraboo, near corner Seventh 
Avenue and West Streets. 


Boulder to first house in Baraboo, southwest corner Ochsner Park. 


Tablets in Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches, also library, in 
Baraboo. 


Grand Army of the Republic monument in front of courthouse, 
Baraboo. 


Tree to mark where Paquette fell, West Cook and Mac Streets, 
Portage. 


Bronze tablet to soldiers and sailors, at Sauk City, end of river 
bridge. 


Bedford Stone memorial at Wisconsin Heights Battlefield, two 
miles from Sauk City. 


Granite memorial to D. C. Reed, founder of Reedsburg, in park at 
Reedsburg. 


Bronze memorial on Van Hise Rock, at Ableman. 


Paquette marker on cellar window of Baptist Parsonage at 
Portage. 


Granite marker where Joliet and Marquette reached the Wisconsin 
River at Portage. 


Bronze tablet on back of above marker to mark Wauona Trail. 
Boulder and tablets to mark site of Fort Winnebago. 


Boulder at entrance of Fort Winnebago Cemetery. 


CHARLIE R Vi 


Durward’s Glen—A Short History of the 
Durward Family—Attractive Features 
of Interesting Place 


THE SHRINE 


Within a temple vast, not made with hands, 

Far up the rugged mountain slope it stands, 

Fern-draped, before its birchen reredos; 

An altar gray, vested with robe of moss, 

In whose soft folds the jewelled dewdrops gleam. 

Hard by, a restless stream, ; 

Deft acolyte, unversed in human creeds, 

Pauses to tell its beads 

In murmured accents low; then hastens on, 

As one who, having sought a benison, 

Resumes his humble task. Along the banks 

Cluster the dark-robed firs in sombre ranks, 

Their crosses all uplift. Upon the air 

Laden with forest perfumes rare 

Slow rise the morning mists; and, hush! 

From his lone cell unseen the hermit-thrush, 

Even as the clouds of incense drift away, 

Chants his clear matins to the new-born day.* 
—Willis Boyd Allen. 


From Baraboo to Durward’s Glen is a trip of exceptional interest 
and scenic beauty. The ten mile drive over a picturesque highway 
which stretches along the back bone of the south range of the Baraboo 
Bluffs affords rare glimpses of open valleys and wooded slopes, with 
the Wisconsin River visible in the distance. The Glen, the erstwhile 
home of the gifted Durward family, is a delightful retreat where the 
visitor is welcome to spread his lunch by the murmuring trout stream 
and enjoy the natural beauty of the spot with its charm of interesting 
association. 


Way to the Glen 


In journeying to the Glen, variety of view is obtained by taking 
the road, from Baraboo, on top of the bluffs and returning by the main 
highway. The Merrimack road leads via Ringlingville, through Glen- 
ville, and on up the bluff to the flat about three miles from town. Fol- 
lowing the first turn to the left a level tract is soon noticed on the 
right, opposite a German Lutheran church and public school. On the 
unbroken surface once reposed a glacial lake, hemmed in on one side 
by ice and on the other by the hills. But a short distance beyond, on 
the left, kettle holes (cavities left by melting blocks of ice) may be 
seen. Also the terminal moraine, a ridge of land but a few rods away, 


*From Scribner’s Magazine for October, 1920; copyright 1920 by 
Charles Scribner’s Sons. 
58 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 59 


About two miles from the church, where the road curves slightly 
to the right, a by-road disappears between a farmhouse aid barn, for- 
merly the P. Fitzsimmons homestead. Less than a quarter of a mile 
from the main road, to the right as one proceeds, is Point Sauk, the 
highest point of land in Sauk county, 1,620 feet. Here one obtains an 
extensive view. 


Three Views in Durward’s Glen 


The roof burned from the chapel in a fire which swept over a portion of the prop- 
erty on May 3, 1923. 


Continuing on the main road less than a half-mile, Wawanissee 
Point is reached and the prospect from this roof of the region is im- 
pressive. Lake Wisconsin may be seen in the hazy distance, the vil- 
lage of Merrimack being hidden on the right. With a glass the capital 
dome at Madison, 285 feet high, the highest but one in the United 
States and the highest but three in the world, nearly thirty miles away, 
may be seen almost due south on the horizon. 


60 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Stepping into the wooded pasture and ascending a knoll, a won- 
drous view is enjoyed. The checkered farms, the shimmering lake, the 
distant hills, combine in making one of the most charming pictures of 
the region. Wawanissee is an Indian word which means beauty or 
beautiful. On a ‘summer evening there is presented an ever changing 
picture of fading cloud and deepening twilight, numberless hues ap- 
pearing as darkness falls. 

To the left, this side of the river, the Owl’s Head, a knot on an 
elevation, lifts itself above the surrounding country. 

Turning to the left at the T in the road, swinging to the right at 
the first turn, the way but a few rods from the T, leads directly to Dur- 
ward’s Glen. There one stops by a gate at the left, after crossing a 
bridge at the bottom of a hill. : 

On the above route there is a very steep decline and an easier grade 
for a car will be found by going due north from the T in the road, turn- 
ing to the right at the school. If this road is pursued stop the car when 
a cluster of pine trees is seen at the edge of a wood and rear of a farm 
house to the right. Enter the wood through a gate and the ruins of 
the chapel will soon be reached. (See Map V.) 


The Durwards 


Bernard I. Durward, a professor, poet and painter, was born at 
Montrose, Scotland, and married Margaret Hilyard in the Episcopal 
church at Manchester, England. They came to America and some time 
after, at the request of a friend, Joshua Hathaway of Milwaukee, Mr. 
Durward painted a portrait of Archbishop Henni. While engaged on 
the picture the artist was converted to Catholicism. He often remarked 
that while he got the bishop’s picture, the bishop got him. The portrait, 
with one of Mr. Hathaway, is now in the possession of the State His- 
torical Society of Wisconsin, at Madison. 

It was in 1845 that the father, mother, and two sons came from 
England to Wisconsin, then a territory. They reached Milwaukee 
without funds but provision for the family was soon assured by an or- 
der for a portrait from a merchant of the city. Before making Milwau- 
kee their home, however, the family spent a short time in Dodge Coun- 
ty and of his experience a son, Rev. Fr. J. T. Durward, has written: 

“Indians being then plentiful and Cooper’s tales the popular read- 
ing, it was no place for a young wife and children, so he rented a house 
in Milwaukee; his profession also requiring the more populous locality.” 

While the family resided in Milwaukee the father painted portraits 
and occupied the chair of belles letters in St. Francis Seminary. But 
the ebullitions of life in a city, even the size of Milwaukee, disturbed 
the artistic mind and the painter sought seclusion in a retreat amongst 
the Caledonia Hills at the Glen. Like Thoreau, politics, palaces and 
paved streets had no lure for his aesthetic temperment; his desire was 
to escape from the pinchbeck gods. 


The Sons and Daugfters 


Frederick, afterwards called Bernard, was born in England and 
died at Riverside, Milwaukee. 

Percy, the future artist, known as Charles, was born in England 
and died at the Glen from eating water hemlock. He employed an ‘“‘o” 
in his name, spelling it Dorward. (Sir Walter Scott and other writers 
of the time wrote it Durward and during the so-called reformation it 
was spelled Dorward. After moving to the Glen most of the members 
of the family changed to the earlier spelling.) 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 61 


Emerson, afterwards Rev. Fr. John Thomas, was born in Milwau- 
kee and died in Baraboo in 1918. For many years he had charge of St. 
Joseph’s church in the city, supervised the erection of the present edi- 
fice, and wrote a number of books, “Holy Land and Holy Writ,” “Dur- 
ward’s Life and Poems,” and others. 


Emma Theresa, the first daughter, was born and died in Milwau- 
kee. The baby’s funeral was by boat and interment was on the Dur- 
ward property in that city. 

Allan, afterwards Rev. James Durward of St. James Church, St. 
James, Minnesota, is the owner of the Glen, but continues to reside 
atistoames, 

Wilfred J. Durward, taxidermist, photographer, and author of 
“Annals of the Glen,” was born in Milwaukee. For many years his 
home has been near Tacoma, Washington, where he married in 1919. 

Andrew, born in Milwaukee, resides near Tacoma, Washington. 
His marriage was solemnized in the Glen chapel. 


Miss Mary Thecla Durward was born at the Glen and now resides 
in Tacoma, Washington. 


When the Durward family came from Milwaukee in a one-horse 
wagon in 1862, crossing the Wisconsin River at Portage, the Glen was 
reached on November 1, All Saint’s Day. Near the trout stream which 
flows through the Glen and close to the first stepping-stones, is a 
Maltese Cross cut in the hard sandstone to commemorate their arrival. 
Just above is the Guardian of the Glen, a bit of art in nature’s wild. 


Continuing up the stream to the boundary of the Glen property, 
the brook laughs over the projecting stones. Just below is the Weep- 
ing Ledge and as the author of “The Annals of the Glen” remarks: 
“Here one sees that the Glen is indeed 


“Filled with streams forever weeping, 
Through the rocks in mossy rills.” 


When B. I. Durward led visitors to the spot, if there were young 
ladies in the company, he would roguishly remark: “Bathe your brows 
at the ledge and you will forever be beautiful.” Seldom a miss neg- 
lected the opportunity. 


St. Mary’s of the Pines 


Ascending the hill by a slender path one reaches St. Mary’s of the 
Pines, standing on a knoll. Here occasionally there has been a bap- 
tism, a marriage, and a funeral, three important events in the life of 
man. The chapel was erected by the family, neighbors and friends in 
18606. 

Two of the sons, James and John, said their first mass_ here. 
(James was ordained at Collegeville, Minnesota, and John at St. Fran- 
cis, Milwaukee.) Charles, the artist, the father and mother, Father 
John, as well as others have been buried from it, and one son, Andrew, 
was married here. 

Thé station shrines encircling the chapel and the cemetery are from 
designs by Delaroche and others. They were painted by Charles and 
erected in 1889. Returning from a trip to Palestine that year, Father 
John brought a little soil from the site of the stations in the Via Dolo- 
rosa at Jerusalem, ‘‘and this was incorporated in these making this hill- 
top a veritable Holy Land.” 


62 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


The father, mother, and two sons sleep on the slope in front of the 
boulder-made church. The inscriptions for the elder Durwards read: 


Bernard I. Durward Theresa M. Durward 
‘ Poet Mother of Priests 
Painter, Professor oer 
Born 
March 26, 1817 SE ae 
Died April 22, 1907 


March 21, 1902 


Cut into the rock beneath the inscriptions may be seen the favorite 
flowers of the father and lace, crucifix, and prayer book of the mothér. 
The inscriptions for the priest and his brother, the artist, read: 


Peat Charles Dorward 
Born none 
March 7, 1847 
Died Sept. 27, 1844 


Sept. 9, 1918 : 
He Wrought in Words and Died 
Builded of Stone and by Nov. 12, 1875 
Grace in the Hearts of Men 


Fire in the Glen 


The roof and other combustible portions of the chapel were burned 
on May 3, 1923. At that time a few of the stations and some of the 
trees were either consumed or damaged. The fire originated near an 
automobile standing to the east in the highway. 


Freshet Is Disturbing 


When the family first came to the Glen, a little cabin that stood 
between the bridge, near the spring, and the cliff, was their home. One 
night a storm arose and the flood of ice, snow and water came pouring 
through the family shelter. The sleepers were aroused by the onrush 
and there was much commotion within. As related in “The Annals,” 
one of the urchins, when the lightning flashed, caught sight of the flood 
from the top of the stair and cried out with pessimistic instinct that af- 
terwards distinguished him: 


“O we're all killed, we're all killed.” 


The trap door of the cellar floated open on its hinges, and a con- 
fused medley of carrots, beets, onions, and turnips were vomited out, 
while the rats clung to the grain bags and had to be knocked off into 
the water. 

In this cottage the daughter, Mary Thecla, was born and in his 
venerable years the father kept a rosebush growing there to mark the 
spot. 

The family garden was then between the brook and the wooded 
slope. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 63 


| BROTHER OR SISTER THINK 


OF HIM 


The Fountain 
A refreshing spring flows year after year into the basin of this artistic piece of masonry. 


The Fountain 


Ceaselessly flows the fountain by the path across the bridge. The 
fountain was erected by the family in memory of their friends and 
literary heroes. The Christian and Jewish years will be noticed cut in 
the stones at the base. 

The star at the top of the keystone is for Miss Eliza Allen Starr, 
a friend of the family. She resided in Chicago for many years and gave 
parlor lectures on art. 

A. de V is for Aubrey Thomas de Vere (1814-1902), the Irish poet 
and miscellaneous writer. He was a son of Sir Aubrey de Vere, also 
an Irish poet. 


64 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


The Greek delta is the nom de plume under which the poet wrote. 

On the right, B is for James Booth, a carver and gilder. He was a 
friend of Mr. Durward in Manchester, England, and later came to New 
York. 

P is for Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore (1823-1896), the Eng- 
lish Catholic poet. He is best known as the author of “The Angel in 
the House.” 

Val Zimmerman, represented by the Z, was a merchant friend of 
the poet in Milwaukee. The sign for his store was the blue flag. 

Captain John Nader, Madison, was a civil engineer and under his 
direction the wingdams along the Wisconsin River were built. He 
often made trips up and down the stream while supervising the work, 
frequently visiting the Glen, and is represented by an N. 

The letter H on the left is for Joshua Hathaway, another civil en- 
gineer, who resided in Milwaukee. 

He it was who sent the artist-poet to make a portrait of Arch-+ 
bishop Henni. : 

The stone marked R was placed in memory of John Ruskin. 

The remaining stone is for W. J. Onahan, politician and welfare 
worker of Chicago. 

The four basswood trees at the mouth of the Glen, near the Mal- 
tese Cross, are often mentioned as the Melzl Quartette, musical friends 
of the family. 

The story is told that a bear once came ambling through the Glen 
just after a light fall of snow, jumping the stream between the little 
bridge below the fountain and the four basswood trees. Immediately 
afterward, George Mearns—Auld Geordie, as he was called—came forth 
with hammer and chisel, carving the tracks into the mossy ‘stone. 
There they may be seen to this day. 

A view of the Cambrian sandstone and basal conglomerate is best 
obtained by crossing the stepping stones, moving adroitly, if one would 
not baptise his soles. The rounded pebbles are of quartzite, broken 
pieces from the Baraboo Mountains of ancient times. Hewing down 
this wall has been the work of the little trout stream, which has. ex- 
posed to view the formation left by the waves and action of the Paleo- 
zoic Sea. 

The trout at play in the winding brook and the trees clinging to 
the fern-clad cliff are interesting sights in this niche of the great out- 
doors. 

The path from the fountain leads to the gallery and low-eaved cot- 
tage, the home for many years of the talented family. In the cottage, 
studio, and gallery the father and sons wrote and painted while the 
mother made beautiful lace for albs, treasured in many a_ Catholic 
church. General Sherman’s wife obtained one for her reverend son, a 
Jesuit priest. 

The father intended that each of his children should erect a stone 
building similar to the one already at the Glen and hoped his family 
might always remain there. This was far from the thought of the sons 
and daughter, however. 

Guarding the forest on the crest of the hill to the right is a row of 
cedars planted in memory of the sons and daughter. Perhaps a neigh- 
bor will tell you about the great Norway spruces of unusual height, 
about the studio, about “Auld Geordie,” the ancient bachelor who gave 
the disappointing party for the girls of the neighborhood, about the 
moosewood and other native plants, as well as a word about the feath- 
ered visitors that come to the Glen. 


CHAT ERe Vii 


Stone Pillar of Yellow Thunder and His 
Squaw, Situated a Few Miles North 
of Baraboo 


ASSING the Baraboo Cemetery and continuing for a distance of 
five miles north of Baraboo, Yellow Thunder’s Pillar is situated 
where two roads cross. The stone monument stands but a short dis- 
tance from where the old chief traversed an Indian trail and not far 


from where he died and was buried. On one side appears the follow- 
ing inscription. 


YELLOW THUNDER 
Chief of the Winnebago 
Born 1774—Died 1874 


And His Squaw 
Died 1868 


Yellow Thunder, a noted warrior and chief of the Winnebago, was 
“to the manner born.” With his tribe he probably took part, on the 
side of the British, in the War of 1812. 

He was buried three days after he had passed to the happy hunt- 
ing grounds, his body laid in a box in a horizontal position with face 
to the west, and his pipe and various trinkets around. His squaw was 
interred in a similar fashion except that the body was placed in a 
sitting position. The ceremonies in both instances were conducted by 
Indians, white neighbors assisting only in bearing the bodies to the 
graves. 

Yellow Thunder is said to have been a “man of great respectability 
among his people, and an able councilor in all their public affairs.” He 
was a zealous Catholic. 

In an interview, (see Wisconsin Historical Collections) Moses 
Paquetie said of him that he was a fine looking Indian, tall, straight, 
and stately, but had an overwhelming love for fire water. This was 
his only vice. 

Forcibly Removed Down the River 


In 1840 the Indians from this section were forcibly removed by 
United States troops under the command of Colonel Worth, down the 
Wisconsin River in boats and canoes to lands in Iowa. Yellow Thun- 
der and others were invited to Portage to obtain provisions, but instead 
of that, according to John T. de la Ronde, “were put into the guard- 
house, with ball and chain, which hurt the feelings of the Indians very 
much, as they had done no harm to the government.” It is said Yel- 
low Thunder felt the disgrace so keenly that he wept. They were af- 
terwards released and taken down the river. 

65 


66 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Yellow Thunder Forty 


Yellow Thunder, his squaw, and others, however, soon returned 
from Iowa walking many miles and arriving amid familiar scenes be- 
fore the troops which took them away came back. The chief secured 
forty acres (the south-west quarter of the south-east quarter of section 
36, town 13 north, range 6 east, town of Delton, Sauk County, Wiscon- 
sin) from the government and there spent much of his time until his 
death in 1874. Rev. and Mrs. John Gillem of Baraboo, now own the 
forty acres on which the chief resided. 


Chief Yellow Thunder and His Pillar 


Chief Yellow Thunder and his squaw are buried at the intersection of two high- 
ways a few miles north of Baraboo, on the road passing the city cemetery. 


After the demise of his squaw in 1868, Yellow Thunder lived but 
little in the log house which stood about three-fourths of a mile north- 
east of the pillar. A few weeks before his death in November, he lo- 
cated his wigwam on the bank of the Wisconsin River about a mile 
north of his land in the woods. Here the neighbors ministered to his 
simple wants, death resulting from an injury to one of his knees, fol- 
lowed by blood poison. : 

Yellow Thunder’s squaw was a daughter of Chief White Crow who 
occupied a village site on the west side of Lake Koshkonong for many 
years. His grave is said to be at Cross Plains. 


Excited Over Religious Rite 


Rev. Gillem gives the following incident concerning Yellow Thun- 
der: - Mr. Gillem’s father-in-law, John Bennett, was immersed in the 
Wisconsin River, near the home of the late Mrs. M. L. Atkinson, town 
of Delton. As the rites proceeded and when Mr. Bennett was under 
the water, the chief became excited, firing his gun over the _ central 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 67 


figure in the ceremony. Afterwards the Indians called Mr. Bennett the 
“Waterman,” because he had been plunged into the stream as part of 
the program in a religious service. Mr. Bennett knew the Indians very 
well, often ate with them and they with him. 


Squaw Secretes Gun 


Albert Bennett owned a gun which he loaned to his brother, John 
Bennett, mentioned in the foregoing episode. One day the gun was 
missing and the borrower of the weapon suspected Mrs. Yellow Thun- 
der knew what had become of the property. While the search con- 
tinued for the fowling piece, Joe Eagle, a familiar Indian character in 
the neighborhood, asked Mr. Bennett how much he would give to know 
the location of the sought-for gun. 

“Why, do you know where the gun is, Joe?’ 

“Yes, I do,” replied Joe. 

“T will give you a quarter if you know.” 

“Raise board under squaw Yellow Thunder’s bed.” 

Mr. Bennett went to the log house on the Yellow Thunder forty in 
which Mrs. Thunder lived and asked her about the gun. She became 
very indignant. 

Crawling beneath the bed, Mr. Bennett raised a loose board and 
there was the gun. 

Many of the Indians would steal. Even Mrs. Yellow Thunder’s 
dog was found by Mrs. Atkinson in her cellar eating the pork from a 
quantity of baked beans. 


’ 


asked Mr. Bennett. 


Hidden Treasure 


While the Indians lived on the Yellow Thunder forty, the chief 
permitted several families to reside there. They received annuities from 
the government.. One day a white neighbor asked Yellow Thunder for 
a loan of one hundred dollars and after a short absence he returned 
with the money, all in gold coin. It was believed by many that Yellow 
Thunder was thrifty and that he had hidden a package of gold in the 
sandy soil of his land. Diligent search, however, has failed to bring to 
light any treasure secreted by the chief. 


Pillar Erected North of Baraboo 


In 1909, it was decided by the members of the Sauk County His- 
torical Society to remove the remains of Yellow Thunder and his squaw 
to a new location, fearing that by clearing and cultivating the land the 
graves would become obliterated. An excavation was made, the bones 
were placed in a large vitrified tile, and the cairn erected, the earthen 
receptacle becoming a part of the boulder-made ossuary. Here, near a 
familiar trail, not far from the white neighbors with whom the Indians 
often mingled and sometimes ate, the remains rest in this enduring 
sepulcher. 

From Mrs. Kinzie’s Wau-Bun 


The following incidents taken from Wau-Bun, a narrative of the 
early days at Fort Winnebago, by Mrs. J. H. Kinzie, show some of the 
characteristics of the squaw of Yellow Thunder. 

Among the women with whom I early made acquaintance was the 
wife of Wau-kun-zee-kah, the Yellow Thunder. She had accompanied 
her husband, who was one of the deputation to visit the President, and 
from that time forth she had been known as “the Washington woman.” 
She had a pleasant, old-acquaintance sort of air in greeting me, as 


68 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


much as to say, “You and I have seen something of the world.” No 
expression of surprise or admiration escaped her lips, as her compan- 
ions, with childlike laughing simplicity, exclaimed and clapped their 
hands at different wonderful objects I showed them. Her deportment 
said plainly, ‘““Yes, yes, my children, I have seen all these things be- 
fore.” It was not until I put to her ear a tropical shell of which I had 
a little cabinet, and she heard its murmuring sound, that she laid aside 
her apathy of manner. She poked her finger into the opening to get 
the animal within, shook it violently, then raised it to her ear again, and 
finally burst into a hearty laugh, and laid it down, acknowledging by 
her looks that this was beyond her comprehension. 

I had one shell of peculiar beauty—my favorite in the whole col- 
lection—a small conch, covered with rich, dark veins. Each of the vis- 
itors successively took up this shell, and by words and gestures ex- 
pressed her admiration, evidently showing that she had an eye for 
beauty—this was on the occasion of the parting visit of my red daugh- 
ters: 

Shortly after the payment had been cognpleted and the Indians had 
left, I discovered that my valued shell was missing from the collection. 
Could it be that one of the squaws had stolen it? It was possible— 
they would occasionally, though rarely, do such things under the in- - 
fluence of strong temptation. I tried to recollect which among the 
party looked most likely to have been the culprit. It could not have 
been the Washington woman—she was partly civilized and knew better. 

A few weeks afterwards Mrs. Yellow Thunder again made her 
appearance and carefully unfolding a gay colored chintz shawl, which 
she carried rolled up in her hand, she produced the shell, and laid it 
on the table before me. I did not know whether to show by my coun- 
tenance displeasure at the trick she had played me, or joy at receiving 
my treasure back again, but at last decided it was the best policy to 
manifest no emotion whatever. 

She prolonged her visit until my husband’s return, and he then 
questioned her about the matter. 

“She had taken the shell to her village, to show to some of her 
people, who did not come to the payment.” 

“Why had she not asked her mother’s leave before carrying it 
away?” 

“Because she saw her mother liked the shell, and she was afraid 
she would say, No.” 

This was not the first instance in which Madame Washington had 
displayed the shrewdness which was a predominant trait in her char- 
acter. During the visit of the Indians to the Eastern cities, they were 
taken to various exhibitions, museums, menageries, theatres, etc. It 
did not escape their observation that some silver was always paid be- 
fore entrance and they inquired the reason. It was explained to them. 

“How much do you pay for each one?” 

Her father told her. 

“How do you say that in English?” 

“Two shinnin—humph” (good). 

The next day, when as usual, visitors began to flock to the rooms 
where the Indians were sojourning, the woman and a young Indian, 
her confederate, took their station by the door, which they kept closed. 
When any one knocked, the door was cautiously opened, and_ the 
woman, extending her hand exclaimed—‘‘Two shinnin.” 

This was readily paid in each instance, and the game went on, 
until she had accumulated a considerable sum. But this did not satisfy 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 69 


her. At the first attempt of a visitor to leave the room, the door was 
held close, as before, the hand was extended, and “two shinnin” again 
met his ear. He tried to explain that, having paid for his entrance, he 
must go out free. With an innocent shake of the head, “Two shinnin” 
was all the English she could understand. 

The agent, who had entered a short time before, and who over- 
hearing the dialogue, sat laughing behind his newspaper, waiting to 
see how it would end, now came forward and interfered, and _ the 
guests were permitted to go forth without further contribution. 


WISCONSIN HAS ELEVEN STATE PARKS 


Wisconsin state parks are as follows: 

Devil's Lake, near Baraboo, 1,400 acres, most popular in the state 
and visited each season by about 200,000 persons. 

Nelson Dewey Park, near Prairie du Chien, 1,651 acres, named for 
an early governor. 

Peninsular Park, Door county, 3,400 acres, gorgeous in the cherry 
blossom season. 

Pattison Park, near Superior, 660 acres. 

Perrot Park, Trempealeau county, 910 acres. 

Cushing Park, near Waukesha, 8 acres. 

Interstate Park, St. Croix Falls, 580 acres. 

Jenkin Lloyd Jones Park, Spring Green, 70 acres. 

Belmont State Park, in utmost southwestern county (old territorial 
capitol) 2 acres. 

Brule Park, up and down the Brule valley in Douglas county, 
about 4,000 acres. 

Rib Hill State Park, Wausau, 160 acres. 

Other parks are contemplated. 


TABLE OF WISCONSIN ELEVATIONS 


UES eR WET Ua a fey alg Glalsas (a) Ape aah 22 ct Seale a a ae eeee OPEN Behe 1927 feet 
PeeTTOS Me eR CLT OTL “COOUIITE Yaeger sak ee ee eee vee 1866 feet 
SaUIn Lake ostation, iaanciane? County...) 25 eee 1743 feet 
Mines Motinds vest’ Mound: lowa, County 2.021.262. ee 1716 feet 
Para VOCE iis; "COM alk, ooattk, Gounty..2....2- eee 1620 feet 
BURA VORA LAE, AVY ASEUITI TOTP OLI LY oy etree en Site Sea ee ose nace aneeees 1361 feet 
Platte Mounds, West Mound, Lafayette County 2000000000... 1325 feet 
MOR CLIN TetE atl LLL VV da KOS an COUN Tit aenc.rh ecient kininase ea 1233 feet 
rites tia even A OUT. CrP ante LOMsie ye 3, ace eae ae oa Se 1185 feet 
ELEVATION OF WISCONSIN LAKES 
Taf oa ooh SE sa D eae Wy ig at i OE, SO slo i Mag tS a, 4 ih ea eal eee ae IEP 581 feet 
LEIS SOUPS Sy a vege Sata AOR IA OT Nas Ula As Ae ec a oe ee 612 feet 
Lake soasisoucng. «| etrerson Gonnty Gn. Lee ok 777 feet 
ae ee ONE ed ts pa GV ey ct hy eee), «IM Oe al CMa e ae ROO Ste Cea 798 feet 
PE PCOLE mare AOUITEN Tota eke ne 8 sy ee 849 feet 
Peal VY CURES TAT ASOLO end Sere hien deco cde On ccna see 852 feet 
Soemrewuce VV cll WORTIPE COTE Ye tei 5 ats Sy el oO ede had 863 feet 
rene wi rrectn een tity aos ee es So ee ee 796 feet 
Sere rureies, sa wer COUNTY ice sch eee about 1280 feet 
Ppt A FIFO ACN OUTIL Vs) Mears efit tea es a ct he Anne eats a about 1600 feet 
Pee ec BAK COUNUY ) cewek ke ee ee. about 960 feet 


Lae VICES LIORCRT, V.11aS< COUDLY bec. scsh sete ode btn ose eae about 1650 feet 


CHAPTER VIII 
Pewit’s Nest Near Baraboo—Home of a Re- 
cluse—Skillet Falls—Graves of 
Napoleon Soldiers 


UT a trifle over three miles from Baraboo, in the early 40’s, a queer 

enigmatical character secreted himself in the rock recesses of 
Pewit’s Nest. To this wildering abode he unexpectedly came, lived for 
a short time, and mysteriously disappeared like a phantom. 

After rumbling over the bridge at the Island Woolen Mill, climb- 
ing the curved incline, and passing over the viaduct above the railroad 
tracks, the course to Pewit’s Nest follows the main highway which 


Skillet Falls 


One of the many delightful combinations of stream and rock and tree, which add 
to the charm of the Baraboo region, may be seen at Skillet Falls. Photograph by 
Howard Ryan. 


turns here to the right for a half a mile and another half a mile to the 
left. Leaving Trunk Highway No. 12, the course follows a mile to the 
right, climbing the terminal moraine and crossing the outwash plain— 
and still another half mile to the left the journey brings the visitor to 
a little rural school-building by the roadside, where the car is left. 
Here Skillet Creek has cut a wide-mouthed valley or pocket, Pewit’s 
Nest being a quarter of a mile to the left of the main road—back of the. 
school house. 

Sward-sided cellar holes are all that remain of a few rude dwel- 
lings built about a primitive mill. At one time the jaws at the mouth 


70 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 71 


of the Nest supported a great iron shaft, a cumbersome _ overshot 
waterwheel deliberately delivering the contents of the creek, by means 
of its buckets, into the pool below. In the process logs were con- 
verted into lumber, a tedious operation. 


A Queer Abode Among the Rocks 


Before the building of the mill, however, there dwelt in the recess 
of the solid sandstone, like a gnome in a cavern, an ingenious and ec- 
centric character whose presence and unusual behavior gave the name 
to the place. In his “Outline Sketches” W. H. Canfield, local histor- 
ian, who located on Skillet Creek in 1842, says the abode of this indi- 
vidual was ten feet above a deep pool of water, dug out by the fall of 
the creek over the crest of the resisting formation. The approach to 
this nearly secreted habitation was either through a trap-door in the 
roof, or a trap-door in the floor. If one entered through the roof it was 
by clambering down the rocky wall to the opening, and if through the 
floor it was by means of a floating bridge upon the pool, a ladder at its 
end leading to the trap-door in the floor. The little shop could not be 
seen from the mouth of the canyon, or from the top, or from any di- 
rection but one, hence by the early settlers it was dubbed the “Pewee” 
or “Pewit’s Nest.” 

Here the recluse repaired watches, clocks, guns, and occasionally 
farming tools, even assaying to manufacture the latter in a rude way. 
Lathes he had for turning iron and wood, the power for propelling be- 
ing provided by an old fashioned centrifugal water wheel, itself as much 
a curiosity as its owner. A large coffee mill, likewise a_ grindstone, 
were arranged to operate by the water that was forever collecting in 
the upper valley and pouring through the shady dell. It is said that 
this hermit of the hill could tell a lively tale and dispel the gloom and 
loneliness by playing upon a violin. At times, forsooth, he was persuad- 
ed to preach for the Mormon church, although his activities as a preach- 
er were never pronounced. Among his other accomplishments, he 
posed as a doctor and prescribed as remedies the herbs and shrubs 
growing in the valleys and on the hills about. 

The favorite place of abode of this unusual individual seems to have 
been the border of a new country and when the settlements among the 
Baraboo Bluffs became too numerous, he as quietly and mysteriously 
disappeared from his queer home at Pewit’’s Nest, as he had come. 


Skillet Falls a Mile Above Pewit’s Nest 


Skillet Falls is located a mile above where the stream tumbles into 
a pool at the head of the peaceful valley and may be reached by fol- 
lowing the creek through the woods and fields for about one mile. The 
best way to enter, however, is through the farmyard of Assemblyman 
Dwight S. Welch on Trunk Highway 12 or by stopping the car in the 
road south of the Falls and following a winding path to the clump of 
pine trees seen to the left. (See Map V.) 

Before the time of the glacial epoch Skillet Creek emptied into the. 
Baraboo River where the city of Baraboo is located, two or three miles 
below the present confluence. The terminal moraine and _ material 
washed out from it by streams fed by the ice filled a portion of the bed 
of the stream and after the ice receded the creek was forced to find a 
new course near where the three roads meet, a short distance above 
Skillet Falls. The upper portion of Skillet Creek tumbles down the 
Baraboo .Bluffs over a bed which dates to pre-Cambrian times while 


72 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


the lower portion is of much more recent origin, something unusual in 
the history of streams. This interruption in its career has resulted in 
the picturesque waterfalls. From the highway east of Skillet Creek 
one has a view of the terminal moraine to the east and of a highly pro- 
ductive outwash plain. 


Origin of the Name 


Skillet Creek was named by Levi Moore from the ‘Skillets’ or 
water-holes made in the Catnbrian sandstone, the shallow cavities look- 
ing much like basins or iron vessels used in cooking. 


Marched With Napoleon 


Continuing on the highway a mile west of Pewit’s Nest one ob- 
serves a rural burying ground on the slope of Rock Hill. A little south 
of the center in Rock Hill Cemetery sleep two soldiers who marched 
with Napoleon in his worid-disrupting European conquests. On mar- 
ble stones one reads: 


Michael Hirschinger Mickael Nippert 


Died Died 
March 20, 1853 May 23, 1864 
Aged 67 Years Age 70 Years, 2 Months 


Michael Hirschinger was the father of former Assemblyman 
Charles Hirschinger of Baraboo. The most thrilling experience of the 
parent was his march to Moscow in the fall of 1812 and his retreat 
with the great Corsican. Half a million men marched triumphantly 
into the beautiful city, only to have it burned by the citizens in their 
very presence. This meant the destruction of Napoleon’s army. 

The tomb of Mrs. Hirschinger is near that of her husband. 

Near the grave of Michael Hirschinger one reads about all that is 
known of still another Napoleon soldier, Michael Nippert. As to his 
martial deeds but little is recorded. By his side sleeps his wife. 

Napoleon went to St. Helena; Hirschinger and Nippert came to 
the Baraboo Hills. 


Geological Formations 


The top of Cemetery Hill is capped with Madison (?) sandstone 
aud the layers below are as follows: 

Mendota, Devil’s Lake sandstone, St. «Lawrence limestone, near 
farmhouse on the south side of the hill where the roads cross, and 
Dresbach sandstone in the creek to the east of the farmhouse. 

The Mendota and Devil’s Lake formations may be seen in contact 
south of the old lime kiln, about one-fourth of a mile south of Skillet 
Falls. (Cahoon’s Quarry). 

A mile and a quarter south of the cemetery, where the road bends 
to avoid plunging into it, a spring of delicious water bursts with pris- 
tine virtue from the hills:'de and escapes into the quietude of a wooded 
dale. This torturous streamlet, which finds its way for almost a mile 
through the towering timber of this delightful retreat, is known as Pine 
Creek. Ferns, mosses, and certain variet:es ot wild flowers cling to the 
rocks which rise high above the stream. The dale is one of great at- 
tractiveness to a lo:terer through this unfrequented wood cf the Bara- 
boo Bluffs. 


GCHAPLEE ROLLA 
Man Mound, Famous Archeological Wonder 
Why Indian Earthworks Were Built 


HE famous Man Mound, a few miles northeast of Baraboo, is the 

most interesting archeological feature of the region. This earth- 
work is shaped like a gigantic human figure and is the only known In- 
dian monument of this nature in the world. 


If a scenic drive to the mound is desired, from the courthouse in 
Baraboo follow Trunk Highway 33 to the greenhouse at the corner of 
Eighth and East Streets, then turn to the left. Enter the Baraboo 
Cemetery at the top of the first climb, drive along the main street to 
the hydrant beyond the chapel, turn to the left and stop the car near 
the Henry Ringling mausoleum. Here is probably the finest view in 
the entire region—Devil’s Lake gap being across the valley and the 
south range of bluffs extending for miles beyond the Baraboo River, 


INDIAN MOUNDS 


| GREENHOUSE Lloe GROUND STATE TRUNK HIGHWAY 33 


Map VII. Roads to Man Mound Park 


There are several ways of reaching Man Mound Park from Baraboo. The most 
scenic is to go one mile north of the greenhouse while the best road is to turn to the 
left at the round barn and go one mile north, then turning to the right. 


hidden in the depression below. A few paces north of the last resting 
place of Henry Ringling—in the same row of lots—may be seen the 
graves of the parents of Ringling Brothers,—also grave of Otto Ring- 
ling, famous circus man, and still farther to the north is the mausoleum 
of Al. Ringling, the eldest brother who erected the theatre in the city 
lying below. A. G. Ringling is buried in the southeast portion of St. 
Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery, to the north of the Protestant burying 
ground. 


After leaving the cemetery the drive should continue up the hill to 
the top where a fine view of the region about Kilbourn may be ob- 
tained. To reach the Man Mound turn to the right and follow the 
scenic highway until the second rural school is reached. 


For the best travel, however, continue east from the greenhouse. 
A deer mound may be visited at 727 Eighth Street, Highway 33, the 
home of M. C. Crandall, located in a grove of oaks near the city limits. 


73 


74 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Man Mound 


The rear portion of this 
mound, a rare effigy, was de- 
stroyed a number of years 
ago. A linear mound may be 
seen just back of the effigy 
and a small oval mound on 
the west side of the house, a 
tree growing on the earth- 
work. 

Continuing on the Trunk 
Highway two miles, a turn is 
made to the left, where there 
is a circular barn, the high- 
Way approaching a _ rugged 
elevation on the left side of 
the road. This outcrop. of 
sandstone is known locally as 
Rocky Point or Violet Hill, 
from the abundance of violets 
which carpet its slopes in the 
spring. Violent Hill would, 
perhaps, be a better appella- 
tion, as the point has been 
responsible for a number oi 
serious accidents. Early in 
the history of this region, a 
bold frontiersman made the 
wrong turn, because of a 
maudlin mind acquired in the 
village by overindulgence in 
rum, and his wagon tipped 
over, snuffing out his life on 
the rocks. 


About the year 1870 
another devotee of Bacchus 
also became a sacrifice. Be- 
fore his team had reached the 
top of the hill this confused 
husbandman, thinking he was 
at the turn in the road, di- 
rected his horses into the 
rocks and by the overturning 
of his wagonbox, was killed. 

Another victim was an 
employe of a hop yard near 
the Man Mound. One night 
this individual walked down 
the slope north of the hill but 
instead of following the high- 
way skirting the rocks, he 
walked directly over’ the 
crest. Stepping into the dark- 
ness, he fell headlong down 
the declivity, barely escaping 
death. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 75 


Only a few years since, a driver and team came down this same 
north slope in a snowstorm. The snowdrifts were deep and the driver 
finally abandoned his conveyance, walking behind his horses in an en- 
deavor to follow the road. Blinded by the falling snow and confused 
by the drifts, man and team plunged over the cliff and were only saved 
from destruction by the abundance of snow. So deep were the drifts 
that little could be seen of the horses after the tumble, except their ears. 


The Man Mound 


The journey now leads a fraction of a mile farther up the north 
range of the Baraboo Bluff, then a mile to the east to a rural school 
and Man Mound Park, the central object of which is the famous Man 
Mound. 

The length of the mound is 214 feet and the width at the shoulder 
48 feet. In order to assemble this large amount of earth the Indians, 


Indian Burial Mound 


Mounds of the above type, round or oval, were made by the Indians when they 
buried their dead. Sometimes many skeletons are found in such mounds. The above 
picture is of a mound near the Wisconsin River in the northern part of the town of 
Fairfield, about eight miles from Baraboo. 


having neither shovels nor iron tools of any kind, used bark baskets or 
baskets of other material, scrapers of wood or stone, and their hands. 
The observer will realize with what labor and under what difficulties 
the workers accomplished their task. When the Indians were gathered 
here, in camp, with their activity and grotesque dress, they must have 
presented a fantastic picture in the boundless wilderness. 

The Man Mound was located and platted by W. H. Canfield, local 
surveyor, historian and archeologist, July 23, 1859. The original sur- 
vey is now in the possession of the Sauk County Historical Society. 
The name of the discoverer of this earthwork has been lost in the dim- 
ness of time. When the highway was graded a number of years ago 
the lower part of the legs was destroved and subsequently the feet, for 
many years beneath a board fence on the north side of the road, were 


76 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


leveled. On August 7, 1908, the. Man Mound Park was formally dedi- 
cated at the joint state assembly of the Wisconsin Archeological So- 
ciety and Sauk County Historical Society, the bronze tablet, a gift of J. 
Van Orden of Baraboo, being unveiled at that time. Previous to this 
the land had been purchased by the two societies and the Landmarks 
Committee of the Wisconsin Federation of Women’s Clubs. 

There was once a man mound near the village of La Valle but this 
has long since been destroyed. 


Region Rich in Indian Mounds 


In pioneer times the Baraboo region was rich in Indian mounds 
and although the plow has been active since the forties and fifties of 


Winnebago Lodge 


The Winnebago Indians had habitations of several types, the above being ones in 
which they resided. Tourists may sometimes see these in the vicinity of Kilbourn. 


the last century, many of the aboriginal earthworks still remain. They 
were erected by the savages on hillside and on plain, by lake and 
stream, in the deep forest and on the open prairie. They are the relics 
of a people now disappearing and are of ever-increasing interest to the 
investigating archeologist. 

The theory was at one time advanced that a pre-Indian race, the 
Mound Builders, constructed the earthworks, but modern archeologists 
have disproved the idea of the existence of any such pre-historic peo- 
ple, holding the builders of the mounds were none other than the 
Indians. It is believed the Winnebago are the authors of a majority 
of the earthworks found in Wisconsin. The great number of these 
heaps of earth scattered over the country indicate a considerable In- 
dian population extending over no small period of time. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 77 


Indian mounds or tumuli are of various forms and, with few ex- 
ceptions, may be classed as round or conical, elongated or wall-l:ke, 
pyramidal, and effigy or emblematic mounds. The conical mounds in 
the United States vary in height from scarcely a perceptible swell to an 
elevation of 80 and sometimes 100 feet. Those in this section are 
smaller the highest not over 25 feet. Those in the Baraboo region 
seldom exceed the height of two, three, or four feet. In the conical 
mounds the Indians often buried their dead and sometimes one, two, or 
three layers of charcoal are found above the remains, indicating that 
fires, probably of a ceremonial nature, had burned over the dead. 

The long or wall-like mounds are earthworks of a usual length of 
50 to 300 feet, in extreme cases the wall having a maximum extension 
of 800 or 900 feet. Linear mounds are found in the effigy mound 
region. 

Pyramidal mounds are not found in the Baraboo country. 

The effigy mounds represent animal forms, and, with few excep- 
tions, are confined to Wisconsin and contiguous portions of neighbor- 
ing states. The famous Serpent Mound and_ several animal-shaped 
earthworks are located in Ohio and two bird mounds are in Georgia. 
Effigy mounds vary from three or four to 500 feet in length and in 
height from a few inches to five or six feet. Burials are rarely made 
in these mounds which have the outline of the deer, bear, lizard, turtle, 
eagle, swallow, frog, or other forms of animal life. Indians are divided 
into clans and most effigy mounds are believed by archeologists to be 
the emblems of these clans. In order to perpetuate the clan idea, the 
Indians constructed about their place of residence the mounds sym- 
bolic of their clans, thousands of these earthen elevations being scatter- 
ed over southern Wisconsin. 

In Alaska the Indians carved their totems or clan emblems on 
trees and in Wisconsin they made them of earth. Effigy mounds may 
be considered totems. 

The deer mound at the home of Mr. Crandall in Baraboo, the bird, 
bear and lynx mounds in Devil’s Lake State Park are clan emblems but 
archeologists believe the effigy in Man Mound Park an Indian deity. 

Mounds of all types in the eastern part of Sauk County numbered 
over 600, according to a survey made by Dr. A. B. Stout about 1905; 
and in the western part of Sauk County about 135, according to a sur- 
vey made by the author of this booklet about 1921. Both reports were 
published in the Wisconsin Archeologist. 


Indians of tke Region 


When Jonathan Carver, noted traveler and author, visited this 
section in 1766, he found a village of the Sauk and Fox Indians at 
Prairie du Sac. The former tribe was sometimes known as the Osaki, 
Ousaki, Sac, Sacque, Sakis, Saky, Saquis, and Sock, the plural being 
Saukies and so forth. In time the Sauk and Fox Indians were moved 
into Illinois and the Winnebago were pressed from the region of Lake 
Winnebago into this section. Although the government made several 
attempts to remove the Winnebago to lands west of the Mississippi, 
beginning in 1840, yet several portions of the broken tribe persist, most 
of them residing near Mauston. Occasionally a few Indians wander 
about the neighboring cities and villages, remnants of a people who 
once possessed the region. Very often at Kilbourn and Baraboo 
the Winnebago may be seen selling baskets or other wares, tepees in a 
convenient spot being their abode. 


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CHAPTER X 


Spring Green — Three Tragedies — Jenkin 
Lloyd Jones State Park—Ableman Nar- 
rows—Van Hise Rock. 


Lae Baraboo over Trunk Highway No. 12, climb the terminal 
moraine about two miles southwest of the city, traverse an outwash 
plain, and Skillet Creek is crossed just before coming to a turn in the 
road. The bank on the right, just as one makes the turn a few rods 
east of a schoolhouse, is said by geologists to have been the mouth of 
an ancient stream, as shown by the successive layers of fluvial deposit. 
About a half-mile farther along there is a bold outcrop of quartzite and 


Waterfall at Taliesin 


This pretty wall, linn and pool are at the entrance to the rural abode of Frank 
Lloyd Wright, the architect. 


in the highway, at the south end, one should note the ripple marks 
where the rock has been quarried, also the schistose structure. The 
latter is again exposed about half a mile to the eastward, also along the 
Warner Memorial road in Devil's Lake State Park. Evidently this 
schistose formation extends the entire distance of about two miles be- 
tween the two highways. 


Just before beginning the descent on the south slope of the bluff 
one obtains a charming view of beautiful Sauk Prairie where, year 
after year, the horn of Amalthaea is most prodigal with gifts. This 
outwash plain was a veritable paradise of bloom in the days before the 
advent of the plow. 


79 


80 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


A “Paper” Town Plat Preserved 


At the bottom of the bluff, between the first and second roads 
which course to the right, lies the village plat of New Haven. The sur- 
veyor’s map of this “paper” town is preserved in the courthouse at 
Baraboo. 

Just above the villages of Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, the Wis- 
consin River has been harnessed and twenty-five thousand horsepower 
from the great dam provides light and power for an extensive area. 


Visited By Carver 


The villages of Sauk City and Prairie du Sac occupy the site of the 
great town of the Saukies, visited by Jonathan Carver in the autumn 
of 1766. All that is left of the presence of the Saukies is the corn hills. 
In his description, among other things, Carver says: 

“This is the largest and best built Indian town I ever saw. It con- 
tains about ninety houses, each large enough for several families. They 
are built of hewn plank, neatly jointed and covered with bark so com- 
pactly as to keep out the most penetrating rains. Before the doors are 
placed comfortable sheds, in which the inhabitants sit, when the 
weather will permit, and smoke their pipes. The streets are regular 
and spacious; so it appears more like a civilized town than the abode 
of savages. The land near the town is very good. In their plantations, 
which lie adjacent to their houses, and which are neatly laid out, they 
raise quantities of Indian corn, beans, melons, etc., so that this place is 
esteemed the best market for traders to furnish themselves with pro- 
visions, of any within 800 miles of it. 

“The Saukies can raise about three hundred warriors, who are gen- 
erally employed every summer in making incursions into the territories 
of the Illinois and Pawnee nations, from which they return with a great 
number of slaves. But these people frequently retaliate, and in their 
return destroy many of the Saukies, which I judge to be the reason they 
increase no faster.” 

Note the memorial tablets at the Sauk City end of the Wisconsin 
River bridge, then take Trunk Highway No. 60 westward. Just after 
crossing the railroad, on a knoll to the right, was the location of the 
French and English boarding school opened by Professor J. H. Turner 
in 1854. The school supplied educational advantages to the community 
for several years. Some of the residences have been reconstructed from 
the ones built and used by the school. 

A short distance to the westward, on the left side of the highway, 
one notes an oak grove. Here may be seen an acre or more of Indian 
corn hills. Much of the ground at Prairie du Sac and Sauk City was 
devoted by the Indians to the growing of vegetables. These corn hills 
among the oaks are the only ones now remaining, now sward-covered 
and much reduced in elevation. ‘ 

About four and one-half miles from Sauk City one passes Lodde’s 
Mill on Honey Creek, one of the oldest water powers north and west 
of the Wisconsin River. Here Robert Bryant, in 1840, built a sawmill 
which was later replaced by a mill for grinding grain. In 1859, flour 
made at this mill took a premium at the State Agricultural Fair. 

One mile beyond where Honey Creek falls over a dam, Ferry 
Bluff, so named because a ferry was once operated there, may be seen 
on the left. 

More than a mile west of Ferry Bluff, where the highway turns to 
the left, was located Riches’ Tavern in an early day. Raftsmen trudged 


back from the south to the pineries in the north along this road. 
Unsolved Murder Mystery 


On Tuesday evening, August 8, 1922, Julius, William and Mary 
Balzer were brutally murdered at their farm home on Trunk Highway 
60, a little more than ten miles from Sauk City. At the top of a small 
knoll the house stands on the east side of the road and the farm build- 
ings on the west. Julius was aged about 59, William was 68, and Mary 
was 65 at the time of their deaths. Here they lived, none of them mar- 
ried, and they were reputed to have accumulated considerable wealth. 

The atrocity was committed about 9 o’clock in the evening and it 
was not until near the close of the next day that Henry Meng, a neigh- 
bor, found the body of Miss Balzer in the ditch near his mail box by 
the side of the road. The two brothers were found in the garage near 
the barn. 


Home of the Balzers 


But a few rods from the house in which they lived, Julius, William and Mary 
Balzer were murdered. 


Evidently the murderers had stopped at the house and had asked 
for aid in connection with their automobile. Julius had taken a lantern, 
had gone into the small building where the Balzer car was standing, 
was struck over the head, and later was found with the lantern over 
one arm and an automobile pump beside him. He lay face down and 
evidently had never moved after being assailed by the murderer. 

The brother, William, was probably standing on the outside and 
when he heard the noise he no doubt thrust his head inside the door, 
only to meet the fate of Julius. He fell across the body of his brother 
and left a quantity of blood on his clothing. Later William revived, 
somewhat, and moved about the garage, a trail of blood marking his 
course. He fell, rolled under the car, where he was found insensible 
by District Attorney H. J. Bohn and Sheriff Herman C. Neitzel, and 
taken to a hospital at Sauk City, where he died about one week later. 


Obviously the sister knew that something unusual had happened 
for she fled from the house when the criminals approached. She ran 
through a field of corn near the home and was trying to reach the resi- 


82 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


dence of a neighbor when struck down, falling in the ditch by the 
highway. To the box came the rural mail carrier during the day and 
scores of cars passed, yet no one noticed the dead form almost com- 
pletely hidden by the weeds, until Mr. Meng came for his mail in the 
evening. 

The murders probably were committed with a hammer or like in- 
strument. The weapon was never discovered. The Balzers kept every- 
thing picked up, were neat about the farm. A pair of goggles was 
found lying in the garage and it is thought these were left by the mur- 
derers. If the protecting spectacles belonged to the criminals, they 
were the only objects left by them. 

The search of the house was slight and but little money was car- 
ried away, is the belief of neighbors and officials. The Balzers had 


View on Trunk Highway 60 


Swiss-like scenes are numerous in the southwestern part of Sauk County. The 
driftless area. 


about twenty thousand dollars in cash and securities in a Sauk City 
bank. The deeds to the farm were never found and the supposition is 
that a bundle of papers was carried away. No one knew the intimacy 
of the household, hence just what was taken is not known. 

The mystery of the identity of the murderers has never been 
solved. It was twenty-four hours before Sheriff Neitzel, District -At- 
torney Bohn and others could search for clues. The brother in the 
hospital was able to state before he died that he did not know who they 
were, bloodhounds were brought without avail, the track of the auto- 
mobile was lost in the sands of the highway, and every person in the 
community was questioned without result. It was as if the wrath of 
the evil one had descended upon these rural folk. 

The authorities some day hope to pick up a thread which will lead 
to the arrest and conviction of the criminals. Evidently there was 
more than one person concerned in this crime, and where there has 
been more than one there is always hope that justice will some day be 
meted out to the evil doers. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 83 


The two brothers and sister left property valued at about $40,000 
to go to a number of relatives, some of whom are in Germany. It will 
be some time before the estate is closed. 

The victims were buried in a cemetery a short distance east of the 
church on Cassell Prairie. The dates of births and deaths of the three 
are given on the stones—Julius 1863-1922, Mary 1857-1922, William 
1854-1922—-vet those who knew the family well think the figures, ex- 
cept 1922, are wrong in every instance. 


Another Murder 


On Saturday evening, August 2, 1923, in the same township. of 
Troy where the Balzers had met a heartless fate, less than six miles 
in an air line from the scene of the triple crime, two men, under cover 
of darkness, might have been seen to leave their automobile on a lonely 
road, retrace their steps down the highway, enter a private driveway 
and, avoiding a farm house, stealthily approach a small hut or shack 


Hut Where Robert Jaeger Was Murdered 


The group of officers and others are examining certain evidence after the crime. 


in which Robert Jaeger resided. The two men were Alvin L. Jensen 
and John Galloway, both of Madison. According to the evidence at the 
trial, Jensen told Galloway to go to the rear of the hut and make a 
noise. On the way around the building he stumbled over some tin cans 
and the owner of the place came to the door. As he stepped forth with 
a gun in his hand, he was struck over the head with a partly decayed 
club, the piece of wood falling in three pieces. 

The one assailed was brought to his knees by the blow, arose and 
burst forth with, “I’ll shoot you, d you, I’ll shoot you.” 

Quick as a flash of lightning, Jensen grabbed the gun, struck 
Jaeger on the head and knocked him back into the shack. His skull 
was fractured, a more serious wound being prevented by his throwing 
up his hand as the gun came down on his head. The ends of his 
fingers received the brunt of the blow. While Jensen was making a 
search, Jaeger attempted to arise and was struck on the head five times 


84 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


PRIVATE ROA 


HOUSE OCCUPIED BY TENANTS? 


HOUSE WHERE JAEGER WAS @ 
ATTACKED , 


160 ACRES 
40 ACRES 


qavow NMOL 


MAP OF |} SECTION 14, TON, R4E 
TOWN OF TROY 


Map IX. Scene of the Jaeger Murder 


Here on the night of August 2, 1923, two men deliberately came for the purpose 
of murder and robbery. 


with an axe. The blade went to the bone but the skull was not crushed. 

After obtaining about $1,000 in money, the two men hurried to 
their car by the shortest route and returned to Madison. 

Soon after they were gone, Jaeger got up, walked to the home of 
the tenant on the farm, John Barlin, and entered the barn. When Mr. 
Barlin and Erwin Luther came home later in the evening they heard 
some one in the bin where oats are stored and while wondering at the 
noise, Jaeger, not knowing what he was doing, came out of the barn. 
He fell before them, was hurried to Madison and died just as_ those 
with him were ready to carry him into a hospital. He was aged 61 
years. 

Naturally this second murder within a year inflamed the neighbor- 
hood. Sheriff William H. Ode and District Attorney H. J. Bohn hur- 
ried to the scene and picked up all the threads which might lead to the 
detection of the criminals. After the two men left their car they 
walked down a sandy hill and casts were made of the footprints. The 
tracks produced by the car showed that the left front wheel was 
equipped with a Goodrich 55 tire and the remaining wheels with Fisk 
Premier Cord tires, which had been on the market since the first of the 
previous January. The kind of tires on the car was widely advertised. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 85 


At Madison William E. Flaherty operated a garage where cars 
were rented and the day after the crime William Dawson, a reporter 
for the Capital Times, drove a machine owned by Flaherty. He met 
with a slight accident and later while at the garage making a settle- 
ment noticed the machine equipped with the one Goodrich and three 
Fisk Premier Cords. He had some conversation with Flaherty and be- 
came convinced that was the car driven on the night of the crime. The 
Fisk tires of this make having been on the market so brief a time and 
so few of them being in use in Madison, strengthened his belief as to 
the identity of the machine. 

On Wednesday morning, August 22, Dawson telephoned District 
Attorney Bohn, the records at the garage were examined, and the ar- 
rest of Jensen and Galloway soon followed. It was disclosed at the 
garage they had used the car on the fatal Saturday night and had 
driven the distance required to make a trip to the Jaeger farm and 
return. | 

The two men were painters in Madison. On the person of Gallo- 
way was found the sum of $485.00 and in a can hidden by Jensen in a 
paint shop was found the remainder of the money, $515.00. The bills 
smelled musty and had every indication of having been stored away in 
a place, such as the one in which Jaeger lived. Jensen received a sen- 
tence for life and Galloway one for twenty-five years, in the peniten- 
tiary at Waupun. 

Flaherty made an effort to reach the authorities at Baraboo but 
was distanced slightly by Dawson. Both claimed the reward of $500 
and at a hearing before the Sauk County Board of Supervisors it was 
decided to give the reporter for the Madison newspaper the $500 and 
the owner of the garage $100 for his efforts in identifying the criminals. 

The Jaeger estate was probated at about $17,000, the money, like 
that of the Balzers, to go to a large number of relatives. 

The victim in this premediated crime was buried in the cemetery one 
and one-half miles east of where the deed was committed. 

Just after the turn at the church on Cassel Prairie, a cottonwood 
tree marks the site of the “Setting Hen,” another pioneer place of en- 
tertainment, and seventeen miles from Sauk City a rude building at the 
rear of a farm home was the last log school house in Sauk County. |! 

Just before crossing the river bridge south of the village of Spring 
Green, a large cubical stone is observed at the left of the road. This 
marker was placed by the. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 
1878. The solid limestone cube, set on a base of masonry, is used in 
triangulation by surveyors. A similar stone is located some two miles 
west of Spring Green. 


Taliesin, Home of Frank Lloyd Wright 


Turning to the right after crossing the bridge and following the 
highway about one mile, Taliesin, the country place of Frank Lloyd 
Wright, noted Chicago architect, may be seen. A _ pretty artificial 
waterfall, tumbling over ledges of native limestone near the interesting 
gateway, welcomes visitors to the grounds which are quite extensive. 
A woodland road leads to the dwelling, approaching from the south by 
a gradual upward slope. The proportions of the house, or as it is local- 
ly known, “the bungalow,” are unpretentious and the structure as it 
rests against the hillside, half-hidden by a wealth of native shrubbery, 
seems almost an integral part of the elevation. The dwelling, with the 
court and stables, is constructed of limestone of a brownish hue, in- 


86 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


digenous to the locality. The architecture exhibits Japanese character- 
istics but is an embodiment of what the architect terms, “The New 
American Architecture.” In the court a modest statue may be ob- 
served among the shrubs and flowering plants, upon which is chiseled 
the well known lines from Tennyson: 


“Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies ;— 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower—but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is.” 


Map X. The Ableman Region 


Note the location of Van Hise Rock, spring and artesian well. The plat of the 
village is not indicated. 


Irom the house and garden a fascinating view of the countryside 
is presented, including hill and dale and fertile farm lands. The little 
stream whose purling waters adds so much to the attractiveness of the 
entrance, winds roundabout in charming contour. 

The bungalow was the scene of a tragedy on Saturday, August 15, 
1914, Julian Carlton, a crazy negro servant killing seven people with a 
hatchet and wounding two others. The dead: 


Mrs. Mamah Bothwick, a woman with unconventional ideas which 
were shared by the owner of the bungalow. 

Mrs. Bothwick’s son and daughter, John and Martha Cheney, aged 
11 and 9 respectively. ; 

Emil Brodelle, aged 30, an architect. 

Thomas Brunker, hostler. 

Ernest Weston, aged 13. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 87 


David Lindblom, gardener. 

The injured were William H. Weston and Herbert Fritz, the latter 
escaping with a broken arm and cuts. 

With gasoline the negro set fire to the building and as the occu- 
pants attempted to escape through a door and window, one by one, he 
struck them with a hatchet. The murderer was found in the firebox 
of the boiler in the basement and died later in the Dodgeville jail as a 
result of taking muriatic acid soon after committing the crime. 

Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. “All that was 
left of her” was buried at Unity Chapel, the bodies of the Cheney chil- 
dren were cremated in Chicago, the body of Ernest Weston was placed 
in the Spring Green Cemetery, Emil Brodelle was interred in Milwau- 
kee, David Lindblom was lowered in a grave at Unity Chapel and 
Thomas Brunker sleeps at Ridgeway. 

The body of Carlton was shipped to the University of Wisconsin, 
at Madison, where it was used in the dissecting room of the medical 
department. 

The owner of the property was in Chicago at the time of the 
tragedy but returned soon after. The bungalow, which was _ partly 
destroyed by fire, was later rebuilt. 

Taliesin, the name given to the estate by Frank Lloyd Wright, was 
a Cymbric bard, whom Welch legend assigns to the sixth century. 


Jenkin Lloyd Jones State Park 


To reach Jenkin Lloyd Jones State Park turn to the left after 
crossing the bridge south of Spring Green, and again turn to the left 
at a small cemetery less than a mile away. Here it was that Rev. Jen- 
kin Lloyd Jones conducted an intellectual and_ religious congress 
through many summers. 


About 1830, Daniel Whitney built a shot tower here, the metal 
being dropped from the top of a hill and removed throuzh a tunnel 
below. Helena was laid out by Generai Dodge, a blockhouse was 
built during the Black Hawk War, and_the place was visited several 
times by Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. During the rafting days there 
was much activity here. 

A fine view of the river as well as the bluffs beyond may be seen 
from the top cf the hill at the rear of the cottages and by descending 
one may see the tunnel from which the shot was removed. 

The park was duly dedicated and accepted by the state on October 
$1922: ; 

To return to Baraboo go north from Spring Green and note the 
pond on the left when part way up the bluff. The body of water is due 
to sand blown by the wind blocking the mouth of a valley. 

About six miles north of Plain, on the right side of the highway, 
is an old stone hophouse, one of the oldest in the country. Here hops 
were dried in the sixties. 

After passing Loganville, turn to the right at the County Farm to 
go to Ableman. 


Ableman Narrows Ancient Canyon 
Concerning the ancient canyon at Ableman Professor C. K. Leith, 
University of Wisconsin, Madison, writes: 
“The gorge at Ableman illustrates remote geologic history of in- 
terest to students of geology. 


-88 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Van Hise Rock at Ableman 


This rock, named for Dr. Charles R. Van Hise, at one time president of the 
University of Wisconsin and eminent in geology, stands in the ancient river canyon, 
between the highway and the railroad. According to Atwood in Chamberlain and 
Salisbury’s geology, the schistose structure developed by pressure shown in the left 
half of the figure, while it is wanting in the right half. The vertical line is a bedding 
plane. The layer to the left was of sufficiently different composition, or sufficiently 
different movement, to develop schistosity, while that to the right was broken (brec- 
ciated) instead. The rock at the left would be called quartz schist while that at the 
right is quartzite. . 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 89 


“The hard pink quartzite standing in vertical layers was once sand 
which was deposited’in an ancient sea (pre-Cambrian time) and has 
since been hardened into a quartzite. This is known from ripple marks 
which are like those at the bottom of the modern sea. The region was 
upheaved into mountains by a slow movement and the layers became 
vertical. The various disturbances to be seen in the quartzite layers 
illustrate important principles of structural geology. In some places 
the rock was shattered or cracked by the movement and _ partly 
cemented again by white vein quartz. 

“Ages of weathering wore down these mountains into bluffs much 
like those of today. 

“The area sank beneath the sea (Cambrian time) and additional 
layers of sand, gravel and boulders were deposited and subsequently 
hardened into sandstone and conglomerate. These layers were later 
upheaved gently from the sea, but without tilting. The level layers of 
Cambrian sandstone may be seen near the north and south ends of the 
gorge resting ‘uncomformably’ upon the irregular surface of much 
older vertical layers of pre-Cambrian quartzite. 

“Streams and weather have since worn the bluffs into their pres- 
ent shape. The gorge was cut. by the Baraboo River. 

“The soft clay and sand in the bottom and sides of the gorge were 
mainly deposited by the Baraboo River when the glacier blocked its 
course at Baraboo. Weathering of the sandstone has made other thin 
deposits of sand and wind has deposited fine clay (loess). 

“The quartzite is used for crushed rock, for abrasive and for fire 
brick. The conglomerate is crushed for roads. The sandstone is used 
for paving blocks and buildings. Moulding sand is dug from the river 
deposits.” 

On the east side of the highway, near the upper end of the gorge, 
stands the picturesque Van Hise Rock, a sentinel-like landmark, carved 
by the eternal sculptor. On the north side of the rock one reads on a 
bronze tablet: 


VAN HISE ROCK 


The material of this rock was once sand on the sea bottom and has since hard- 
ened into quartzite. It was tilted to the present position by a slow earth movement, 
and then separated from the adjacent cliff by erosion. The vertical light and dark 
bands represent the original layers. The inclined cracks in the dark layer were 
caused by the readjustment in the layers during the tilting. 


This rock is pictured in geologic books as a type illustrating important prin- 
ciples of structural geology, and has been a point of special interest to many in- 
vestigators in geology visiting this region. President Charles R. Van Hise of the 
University of Wisconsin was one of the first and foremost of these. 


Tablet presented by friends of Van Hise at the University of Wisconsin, 1923. 


There are about 70 feet of silt and sand in this valley, deposited 
during the glacial period. This means the river was 70 feet lower at 
one time. In the beginning the stream was far above the top of the 
canyon, becoming gradually lower as the formation was cut away. 

The same may be said of the beautiful Narrows Creek canyon to 
the west of Ableman. 

On the way to Baraboo note the horse-shoe bend after passing a 
school. From the top of the terminal moraine just before reaching the 
city, one obtains a fine view of the valley to the westward, the low land 
being filled by a glacial lake at the time the wall of ice occupied the 
position of the terminal moraine. 


CHARGERS x1 


Natural Bridge, Near Leland, is of Mazo- 
manie Sandstone—Result of Weathering 


BOUT one and one-fourth miles northeast of the village of Leland 

is located the Natural Bridge. The bridge is an arch with a span 
of about 35 feet. The height is from 25 to 35 feet and the ledge which 
spans the opening is about four feet wide at the top. No stream has 
caused the weathering of the Mazomanie Sandstone, the work having 
been done by the wind and the crumbling away of small pieces of the 
rock. A cave over seven feet high and about 25 feet long is under the 
arch of this natural wonder. 


Natural Bridge Near Leland 


In order to obtain some idea of the size of this natural wonder compare with the 
figure on top. 


; 


The depression on .the north side of the Bridge was no doubt 
scooped out by the wind when there was little or no vegetation. 


Leland may be reached by taking Trunk Highway 136, either from 
North Freedom or Prairie du Sac. The former route is past the 
abandoned iron mines south of North Freedom while the latter is 
through ancient valleys with interesting saridstone formation along the 
way. 

To reach the Bridge from Leland, drive northeast and park the car 
just east of the first house on the north side of the road. The Bridge 
is some distance north of the highway and it will be necessary to walk 
a half-mile through a field and up a wooded slope. The bridge is to 
the left after entering through the gate into the woods. The land is 
owned by Richard Radatz. 


08 yd od i hae BE 


Wisconsin Heights Battlefield Near Sauk 
City—A nother Napoleon Soldier Grave— 
Roxbury Church 


ISCONSIN has been mercifully fortunate in that but three bat- 

tles have been fought within the borders of the state since 

American occupation, and these during the Black Hawk War. The 
three are Pecatonica, Wisconsin Heights and Bad Axe. 

The memorable battle of Wisconsin Heights between United 

° States troops and the famous 

Indian Chief, Black Hawk, 

and his Sac and Fox war- 

riors, was fought about a 

mile south of Sauk City. This 

encounter, so disastrous to 

the forces of Black Hawk, 

took place July 21; 1832, 

when Wisconsin still was a 

part of Michigan territory 

and settlements were chiefly 

in the lead region, the south- 

western section of the state. 


Wisconsin Heights 
Battlefield 
Near this Site 
2 Ts cig ae The Sauk Chieitain 
pany’ p= ie a et ae BLACK HAWK 

- ve nee and His Band 
Were Overiaken 
By Wisconsin and 

Illinois Troops 
On July 21, 1832 

Erected by the 
John Bell Chapter 
D. A. R., Madison 
September 3, 1923 


bee oa 3 
tha Sy 


ee ea 
8 = 


After crossing the Wis- 

consin River at Sauk City, 

Battlefield Monument . follow State Trunk High- 

way 81 more than a mile—until a monument bearing the above inscrip- 

tion is seen on the left side of the road immediately after crossing a 

concrete culvert. The battle was fought about 300 paces south of east 
of the memorial. 


91 


92 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Causes of the Battle 


The causes leading up to the battle of Wisconsin Heights were 
numerous. On the Rock River, near its confluence with the Mississip- 
pi, was the Sac village, the inhabitants of which were more in sym- 
pathy with the British than with the Americans at that time. 

A treaty had been signed in 1804 by the Indians transferring to the 
United States their lands in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, 
with the proviso that as long as the lands remained public domain the 
Indians might live or hunt upon them. Regardless of this, white 
squatters not only entered this territory, but as early as 1823 enraged 
Chief Black Hawk and his people by burning their lodges over their 
heads, ‘destroying their crops, and whipping their squaws and children 
for venturing beyond certain bounds, while the chief and his braves 


@ 
¥, 


ae ROXBURY 


Map XI. Vicinity of Wisconsin Heights Battlefield 


(1) Indian cornhills in an oak grove near the highway. (2) Battlefield of Wis- 
consin Heights. (3) Rural school building from which Wisconsin Heights may be 
seen. (4) Cemetery in which soldiers who marched with Napoleon are buried. 


were absent on the hunt. “The evil grew worse year by year, and fre- 
quent remonstrances of Black Hawk to the white authorities were in 
vain. It was clearly the duty of the general government to protect the 
Indians so long as no sales.of land were made.” Black Hawk was ad- 
vised to seek a village site beyond the Mississippi to avoid the advanc- 
ing tide of settlement but the warrior was obstinate and prepared to 
fight for his lands. About this time he began to deny having been a 
party to the treaty. This denial “was the weak point in his position.” 
A crisis was reached in 1830 when pioneers plowed over an _ Indian 
cemetery, pre-empted a village site, and took possession of the planting 
grounds of the red men. Black Hawk, after consulting with the British 
agent, threatened the squatters with force, but a military demonstra- 
tion so frightened the Indians that they gave up the idea of fighting 
and fled across the Mississippi. 


On April 6, 1832, the Hawk, with about five hundred warriors, 
(about one thousand Indians, including women, children and old men,) 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 93 


mostly Sac Indians, crossed into Illinois, creating wild excitement in 
the settlements there and in Wisconsin. Soon eighteen hundred volun- 
teers, some mounted and some on foot, were on the march. Black 
Hawk sent a note of defiance, retreated up the Rock River, and made 
a stand at Stillman’s Creek. Disappointed at not receiving assistance 
from other tribes, he sent messengers with a white flag to his pursuers, 
asking that he might return peaceably beyond the Mississippi. Those 
bearing the white flag were brutally slain by the militia. Black Hawk 
was enraged, and from an ambush routed a larger party, killing a num- 
ber and wounding others. 

About this time settlers were killed at a number of places and the 
name of Black Hawk was connected with every stump, tree, and pro- 
jecting rock in the region. The entire section was terrified. Forts 
sprang up at a dozen places and additional troops were summoned. 

In the meantime Black Hawk moved up Rock River near Lake 
Koshkonong and, being hotly pursued, retreated with his warriors and 
the women and children to the present site of the city of Madison. 


A Day of Excitement for Troops and Indians 


The Indians and the militia were on the move early on the morn- 
ing of July 21, 1832. Their camps had been near each other but neither 
cared to make an attack at night. While passing along the shore of 
one of the lakes at Madison, an Indian was seen to come up from the 
water and pause near a newly made grave. In a moment he was 
pierced with bullets. The grave was probably that of his squaw who 
had died from exhaustion and the disconsolate red man had decided to 
await the approaching foe and there, also, meet his fate. 

It was not long until the rear of the band was sighted. The day 
was warm. The Indians threw away kettles, blankets and_ other 
weighty articles in order to accelerate their speed. Some forty horses 
belonging to the soldiers became exhausted, and the riders leaped from 
the animals and hurried along as fast as possible on foot. Two or three 
times the Indians showed fight but melted away as soon as any num- 
ber of their enemies appeared. These feints but served to stir the 
chase from dawn to late afternoon. 

Black Hawk did not have over 500 warriors, while General Henry 
had about 600 soldiers and Colonel Dodge 150 more. In the ardor of 
their pursuit, over a country possessing many difficulties, the immediate 
commands of Colonel Dodge and Colonel Ewing had outstripped the 
rest of General Henry’s brigade. About five o’clock in the afternoon, 
when they arrived at Wisconsin Heights, they were met by a spy com- 
pany which had preceded them and which had been driven back, the 
enemy having shown fight. The command of Dodge, with Ewing in 
the center, dismounted, formed in line, and advanced to the edge of the 
bluff. The Indians were secreted in the high grass growing on the 
level ground on both sides of the creek. Dodge maintained his position 
for about an hour; General Henery’s brigade then arriving. His 
soldiers were deployed to the right and left, the line thus being formed 
with Dodge’s command in the center. 

From five o’clock until sundown the conflict continued. The In- 
dians in the meantime had been driven from their initial position, some 
of them escaping up the bank south of the stream and others falling 
back in the rank lush weeds and grass toward the Wisconsin. Rain 
fell and the high grass becoming wet, it was found impossible for the 
men to keep their arms dry in passing through it, so the firing ceased. 


94 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


The flight of the Indians was hindered by their being encumbered 
by their women, children and old men, and Black Hawk fought this 
battle in part to give these, as well as his warriors, time to escape 
across the Wisconsin. 


Chief Black Hawk (1767-1838) 


From an original oil portrait by R. M. Sully, painted at Fortress Monroe, while 
Black Hawk was confined there in 1833. The portrait is now the property of the 
State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 


Chief White Crow, father of Yellow Thunder’s squaw, (the latter 
buried a few miles north of Baraboo,) a number of Winnebago, and 
Pierre Paquette, their interpreter, were in the battle as aids to the 
whites. They had joined a detachment which had left Fort Winnebago 
(Portage) to go to Rock River, and were in the wild chase across 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 95 


the unbroken country to the place of the battle. They left the scene 
during the night and returned to Fort Winnebago. 


On the mountain overlooking the battlefield, an Indian chief gave 
orders during the fight and a little before dawn the morning after, a 
voice was heard from the same eminence. This greatly disturbed the 
troops and General Henry had all his men parade in order of battle. 
The individual speaking in the darkness was Neapope, endeavoring to 
make a conciliation, thinking the Winnebago were siill in the camp and 
would understand him. Just before daylight the harangue ceased and 
Neapope disappeared. When morning came troops found a few horse 
tracks which appeared to have been made during the night. 


An Unmarked Grave in Grove 


But one soldier was killed, John Short, who is buried on the bank 
among the trees, a few rods south of the stream and about 300 paces 
south of east of the monument. All trace of this grave is lost. A 
young woman, Mary Hackett, who died in pioneer times, was buried 
at the eastern extremity of the level ground, not far from where the 
soldier was interred. No one has since been buried here. 


During the battle Colonel Jones had a horse shot from under him 
and several soldiers were wounded. The day after the fight was spent 
in preparing to transfer the injured to the fort at Blue Mounds. 


The number of Indians killed will never be known, but it was in 
the neighborhood of fifty or sixty. Many of the survivors, with hearts 
of lead, crossed the Wisconsin River during the night, and moved 
through the wilderness in a northwesterly direction toward the Mis- 
SisSippi. 


Indians Pursued to Bad Axe 


A few days after the battle the troops, reprovisioned at the Blue 
Mounds fort, crossed the Wisconsin at Arena, marched up the bank of 
the river until the trail was found, and pursued the retreating Indians 
in their frightened flight. The savages killed horses along the way in 
order to sustain themselves with food; some perished from their 
wounds, and still others died from fatigue. At the mouth of the Bad 
Axe River, the troops from the rear, the fire trom the Warrior on the 
Mississippi, and the Indians in Minnesota, almost annihilated the band 
under deluded, deceived, and defeated Black Hawk. A few of his braves 
and families who descended the Wisconsin River in boats, met a similar 
fate near the mouth of the stream, bringing to an end the campaign of 
Black Hawk, and all Indian warfare in Wisconsin. 


Black Hawk was indiscreet, romantic, ambitious and restless, but 
“forbearance, honorable dealing, and the exercise of sound policy by 
the whites, could easily have prevented the war.” (See “The Story of 
the Black Hawk War,” by Dr. R. G. Thwaites in Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, Volume XII.) 


Alfred Taylor resides on a farm a short distance east of the bat- 
tlefield. When a youth he accompanied a soldier who fought in the 
battle, also his father, over the ground. Mr. Taylor has a clear recol- 
lection of the description of the fight given by the participant in the 
battle. Years ago Mr. Taylor’s father found on the field a gun and 
saddle, afterwards destroyed in a farmhouse fire. 


A short distance south of where John Short is buried there is a 
fine group of Indian mounds. 


96 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Grave of a Napoleon Soldier 


From the Mazomnie road near the battlefield, one may drive east 
about a mile to the Roxbury Cemetery, on Trunk Highway No. 12. 
Northeast of the center of this burying ground lies a soldier who served 
one year against Napoleon and three years under him, a ndt uncommon 
circumStance when the whole of Europe was torn by the great Corsi- 
can. The inscription above the grave reads: 


Peter Pauli 
Geb. 10, June 1792 
Gest. 7, Sept., 18&4 

ReiAe: 

Schlafe Wohl, O Vater Schlafe 
Deiner Walfahrt Leiden aus 
Sanft Sel Dir Der Letzie Schlummer 
Dein Erwachen Ohne Kummer 


About 1848 Pauli came with his family to America and after a stay 
in Milwaukee settled in Roxbury, where he died. 
two other Napoleon soldiers buried in this cemetery but their graves 
have not been identified. 

In the same cemetery are buried two other soldiers who marched 
with Napoleon, Neumeir and Clas or Claus. (See Wisconsin Magazine 
of History, March, 1921.) Their graves have not been identified. 


Roxbury (St. Norbert’s) Church 


Within sight of the cemetery is the Roxbury church, founded by 
Father Adelbert Inama, a German priest, about 1845. This church is 
one of the oldest and richest rural churches in this section of the state. 
The present edifice was erected in 1860 but was not finished within 
until 1866. The interior is most artistic. Above the altar is a painting 
said to have come from the brush of Holbein. However this may be, 
the picture is remarkable for the beauty of the figures represented 
which include the Virgin and Child with St. Jerome on the left and on 
the right St. James and St. Norbert. The church takes its name from 
the last named saint who is said to be portrayed with the features of 
Louis I, king of Bavaria, donor of the painting. The picture is under- 
stood to have been sent by the king as a present to the church in 1860. 

Between the rural school building, west.of the cemetery, and the 
Wisconsin River was the “paper” city of Superior, which once aspired 
to be the capital of the state. The plat, now in the courthouse at Mad- 
ison, extended for about three miles up and down the river. 


CHAPTER XIII 


Portage and Old Fort Winnebago—Ceme- 
tery Where Soldiers of Many Wars Sleep 


VIE Wisconsin was on the frontier, as a protection against the 
Indians, three forts were built—Fort Howard at Green Bay, 
Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, and Fort Winnebago at Portage. 
The central object of interest in this little journey is the early outpost 
at the Fox-Wisconsin portage. 

Leaving Baraboo on Trunk Highway 33, leading directly east of 
the city, where open fields now greet the eye on either side, was once 


7 
A) 


NG io 
~ wre 
. 


WR s 
AY 


3h 


NV 


Indian Agency House 


This house was built by John H. Kinzie, who, with his bride, came as Indian 
agent to Fort Winnebago in 1830. To this house, Mrs. Kinzie, a cultured eastern 
woman, brought her piano up the Fox River. In after years she wrote ‘“‘Waubun,”’ 
telling of many interesting things which happened here. The property is now owned 
by E. S. Baker of Portage. 


a treeless tract known as Peck’s Prairie. This was named for Eben 
Peck, an early settler whose residence was on the present highway a 
short distance west of the fair ground. 


Roche Moutonnee 


After passing a road which turns to the left and leads to the Man 
Mound, a roche moutonnee, sheep shaped surface of the quartzite, may 
be seen about a half-mile to the left. The surface of the outcrop was 
rounded during the invasion of the glacial ice into this region. 


Ripple Marks in the Quartzite 


Just before reaching the Baraboo River the road swings to the 
left, approaching the talused slope of the rugged north range of the 


97 


98 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Baraboo Bluffs. Exposed in an abandoned quarry the observer will 
note a considerable surface of the perpendicular exposure covered with 
ripple marks. These were made by waves in shallow water, hardened 
into quartzite and then set up on edge when the region underwent a 
mountain making movement. 

Two species of cacti grow on the summit of the bluff, also to the 
west—Opuntia humifusa, the western prickly pear, and Opuntia 
fragilis, the brittle opuntia. 

The highway extends along a dry ravine and in early times an In- 
dian trail leading from the west reached the river through this depres- 
sion. There was an Indian ford at this place, a crossing for the trail 
extending from the vicinity of the city of Baraboo to the east. On the 
V-shaped ridge across the ravine, almost opposite the farm house, a 
bear mound lies, the head extending to the south. Other mounds were 
to the west of this but these have been destroyed. About 1906 a skele- 
ton was unearthed on the bank of the gully, nearly opposite the farm- 
stead. 

The gap where the river escapes from the valley into the lowland 
to the north, has a geological history similar to that of Devil’s Lake. 
No talus covers the slopes, however, the loose stones having been 
swept away when the ice sheet flowed slowly through in glacial times. 
The glacial deposits fill the watergap to a depth of more than 260 feet. 


An Ancient Lava Bed 


At seven localities about the outer margin of the quartzite region, 
igneous rocks have been found—at Alloa, near the Devil’s Nose, at 
Baxter’s Hollow, three near Denzer and one at the Lower Narrows. 

By far the largest area, described by Samuel Weidman, formerly 
of the Wisconsin Geological Survey, in “The Baraboo  Iron-Bearing 
District,” is found at the Lower Narrows, distributed over the width 
of more than a half-mile along the north slope, to the east and west of 
the gap. At the bridge the road to the left leads to a point less than 
a mile distant; here the igneous rock porphyry or rhyolite comes boldly 
within a few feet of the highway. By climbing upon the ledge one 
stands on a surface older than the Baraboo Hills, older than any other 
deposit in the whole region. As lava the rhyolite flowed, then cooled 
and during the upheaval of the north range was forced upon its edge, 
remaining so to this day. Upon this cooled lava the whole later 
geologic formation of the region rests; to be upon it is to be upon the 
floor of the world, one may say. 

Eastward from the bridge over the Baraboo River, the highway 
hugs the bluff. A few Indian mounds may be seen less than a half- 
mile to the north after passing the first farm house: To the east of 
these mounds the skeletons of about sixty Indians were uncovered 
when one was leveled a number of years ago. The Indian corpses had 
been seated in a circle and buried in one heap of earth. Evidently there 
had been a battle or pestilence amongst them. 

To the right of the highway are many hidden beauty spots all 
along the way to the next bridge over the Baraboo River, especially 
where the streams come down from the high land above. One of them 
may be seen at the rear of the farm buildings where the highway sign 
indicates the boundary line between Sauk and Columbia counties. 

However, the most attractive of these is Fox’s Glen, to the right 
and just east of the rural school building facing the river. 

The high ground on the right, just before crossing over the Wiscon- 
sin River, is the site of an Indian Village. The pioneers crossed the 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 99 


river here on a ferry, the first bridge being built in 1857. It was de- 
stroyed by a cyclone in 1903, and the present structure was then 
erected. ‘ 

Home of Miss Zona Gale 


After entering West Cook Street, the main thoroughfare of Port- 
age, and reaching the third street to the right, the car should be swung 
one block south to pass the home of Miss Zone Gale, the author of 
“Friendship Village,” ‘Miss Lulu Bet,” ‘Birth,’ and many _ other 
volumes of fiction. In the residence of Southern colonial architecture 
many of her works have been produced and these have been read the 
world over. Miss Gale is one of the most noted Wisconsin authors. 
The house stands at 506 West Canal Street, on the bank of the wind- 
ing Wisconsin, the rear lawn sloping to the waterway. 


Where Paquette Was Killed 


West Cook and Mac Streets. Near the intersection of. these two 
thoroughfares is where Pierre Paquette (Pacquette, Pauquette, Po- 
quette), Indian trader, interpreter and portager, was killed by an abori- 
gine, in the fall of 1836. The Daughters of the American Revolution at 
Portage have planted a tree at the northeast corner of the above-named 
streets to mark the location of the tragedy. Paquette was the son of a 
French father and a Winnebago mother; about 1818 he was married 
to a woman whose father was a Canadian half-breed, and whose mother 
was a half-breed Sauk. Paquette was interpreter for the Indians at the 
treaties with the Winnebago at Green Bay in 1828, at Prairie du Chien 
in 1825, and at Rock Island in 1832. He fought in the ranks at Wis- 
consin Heights and after this war engaged as a trader on the west side 
of the Wisconsin River. His assassination is said have grown out of 
his connection with the Sauk War. While intoxicated he came _ to 
where Manzemoneka, a son of Whirling Thunder, and his squaw had 
their fire, kicked the embers about, and was killed on the spot. The 
trader and the Indian had quarreled before. 


Monument to Discoverers 


Crossing the canal bridge near the Wisconsin River and contin- 
uing south several blocks, a granite monument marks the place where 
Louis Joliet (he always wrote it Jolliet) and Father Jacques Mar- 
quette, and five companions, the first white men to visit this region, 
crossed the Portage on June 14, 1673, and floated down the Wisconsin. 
The memorial was erected by the Portage chapter of the Daughters of 
the American Revolution and in 1923 they placed a tablet on the rear 
of the stone which reads: 


Old Military Road 
End of 
Wauona Trail 


Many noted persons crossed the portage in early times and by the 
beginning of the eighteenth century, two hundred years ago, the place 
was almost as well known as any in the United States. Duluth and 
Hennepin, the first to ascend the Wisconsin River, were here in 1680. 
According to the journal of Hennepin, they cut crosses in the trees as 
a record of their presence. 


100 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


Nicholas Perrot, the Baron Lahontan, Charles Pierre Le Sueur 
and other famous travelers describe the portage in the latter part of the 
seventeenth century. 

Near the beginning of the eighteenth century the Fox war retarded 
travel and transportation by this route. During the summer of 1727 
an expedition on its way to establish a French post on the upper Mis- 
sissippi, passed across this narrow strip of land. 

Then came a long procession of voyageurs, missionaries, and 
travelers, going to and from the Sioux country or to places along the 
Mississippi. Along this historic way the French garrison at Mackinac, 
in 1760, retreated to the Illinois country. 


Thence came Jonathan Carver, author and traveler, in 1766, and 
here he found Pinnashon, transporting agent. Pinnashon had escaped 
from the Illinois garrison and became the first white settler here. 
When Peter Pond came in 1774 he found the agent busy portaging. 

As a rendezvous for Indians during the American Revolution the 
portage is indellibly written in Wisconsin history. In 1780 the expedi- 
tion against St. Louis gathered here and during the same year Long 
hurried to rescue the furs of the traders stored at Prairie du Chien. 
The business grew to such an extent that Laurent Barth, in 1793, came 
with ox teams to assist the travelers and tradesmen in crossing the nar- 
row bit of low land between the rivers. 

Before the close of the eighteenth century the Decorah family of 
Winnebago chiefs pitched their wigwams in the neighborhood; Jean B. 
L’Ecuyer was transporting the travelers, and in the boreal season of 
1801-2 Augustin Grignon, noted Wisconsin fur trader, tarried here. 

During the summer of 1810 the overland division of the expedition 
sent out by John Jacob Astor of New York to establish a trading post 
at the mouth of the Columbia River passed this way in its fruitless 
journey, so graphically described by Washington Irving in “Astoria.” 

Robert Dixon, British Indian agent, during the War of 1812, col- 
lected his savage allies here, and thither on its way to drive the Ameri- 
cans from Prairie du Chien, portaged the motley company in 1814. 
Following the Treaty of Ghent, this same British force retreated over 
the historic route the next year. 

Then frequently there passed detachments of Federal troops be- 
tween Fort Howard at Green Bay and Fort Crawford at Prairie du 
Chien. Here in 1827 occurred the memorable surrender of Red Bird. 
a Winnebago chief, the central figure in the Winnebago War. 

Extending through the Spanish, French and British occupancy and 
into the American regime, a picturesque procession wended its way 
across the portage. There was the Jesuit Father, self-sacrificing in his 
quest of Indian souls to save; the rollicking voyageurs, jauntily clad in 
fringed buckskins; the coureur de bois, daring adventurers of the fur 
trade; half-breeds and savages, tricked out in paint and feathers, all 
mingling in a cosmopolitan company. 


Fort Winnebago Dates From 1828 


Crossing the Fox River, the location of the commissary building 
of the fort will be observed a few rods to the left. Goods from boats 
plying the Fox were unloaded into the building; a fragment of the wall 
still remains, hidden in the weeds and grass. 

The frame house to the right, somewhat modified, was the sur- 
geon’s quarters, the hospital being near. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 101 


The well at the farmstead at the left was in the center of Fort 
Winnebago when completed in 1830. The portage was made a military 
post in 1828, Major David E. Twiggs erecting the fortification. Dur- 


GARDENS 


GARDENS 


MILITARY ROAD To 
GREEN BAY OR FORT 


ead Shanties 


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CT 


CEMETERY 


oO 


Blacksmith Shop 


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Map XII. Fort Winnebago and Surroundings (1835) 


The map is from a sketch made by O. P. Williams in the ‘‘History of Columbia 
County,” 1880, with slight changes made by E. S. Baker, Mrs. E. S. Purdy and 
others. 

The building to the right after crossing the Fox River from Portage, once the 
hospital and surgeon’s quarters, is all that is left of the military buildings. 

The Fort was one and one-half stories high, the whole being built around a well 
still used on the farm. The guard house was to the right, just inside the fort. In the 
lower corner was a one-story magazine, the soldiers’ quarters were on the right of the 
enclosure, the officers’ quarters were opposite the entrance, the chapel was in the 
upper corner, additional officers’ quarters were on the left, and the block house was 
on the corner to the left of the entrance. 

The stockade or picket-fence surrounding the Fort was of split tree trunks driven 
into the ground side by side, the top of each being ten feet above the surface of the 
ground. 


ing the Black Hawk War the outpost was useful in checking the hos- 
tile tribesmen. It remained a garrison until 1845, and was sold in 1853, 
the nineteen and fifteen-hundredths acres bringing $23.94. The deed 


102 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVII’S LAKE REGION 


was signed May 9, 1854, by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, 
the transfer being to Henry Merrell. The deed, yellow with age, may 
be seen in a frame hanging on the wall of the public library in Portage. 

It was Davis who, with his military force, constructed the garrison 
and who afterward became president of the Confederacy. 

Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States, 
visited the fort with Captain Hugh Brady, Indian fighter, in 1836. 
Judge D. Doty, afterward territorial governor, often was here, while 
General Lewis Cass, and Captain Frederick Marryat, celebrated English 
novelist, were among the many noted visitors. Miss Marcy, later the 
wife of General George B. McClellan, was a child here, the-daughter of 
a lieutenant. 


Surrender of Red Bird 


Many interesting episodes took place at Fort Winnebago, one of 
the most picturesque being the surrender of the Indian chief, Red Bird. 


Lieutenant Jefferson Davis at 32 
(From an old engraving in the Aldrich Collection, Historical Department of Iowa.) 


In 1827, near Prairie du Chien, a number of whites were murdered by 
Winnebago Indians and a keel boat containing soldiers was attacked 
while on its way down the Mississippi River from Fort Snelling. The 
two incidents produced widespread alarm for it was feared there was a 
general uprising of the Indians. In all this Chief Red Bird, whose vil- 
lage was in Trempealeau County, was implicated. The Indians fled 
up the Wiscansin River and a mounted force scoured both sides of the 
stream as far up as Portage. Major Whistler hurried from Fort How- 
ard, now Green Bay, and was accompanied by a company of Oneida 
and Stockbridge Indians who encamped on the bluff opposite the point 
where Fort Winnebago was afterwards built. In the meantime the 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 103 


Winnebago pitched their wigwams along where Cook Street in Portage 
is now located—west of the Catholic Church. General Atkinson also 
approached and General Dodge was in pursuit, all of which created a 
great stir among the Indians when they learned of the true situation. 
Accompanied by a band of Indians, Red Bird and the other guilty ones, 
carrying American flags at the head and rear of the procession and a 
white flag in the center, marched to Ketchum’s Point, and across the 
portage to the Fox River opposite where the fort was afterwards lo- 
cated. Red Bird was singing his death song and could be plainly heard 
by the troops and Menominees assembled on the high ground to the 
east. The Winnebago were assisted across the river on barges, Red 
Bird and the miserable We-Kau marching up a little in advance of the 
others. Red Bird, attired in all the raiment peculiar to his race and po- 
sition, carrying a white flag in one hand and a peace pipe in the other, 
humbly surrendered to Major Whistler. The prisoners were sent to 
Prairie du Chien, tried before Judge Doty, convicted, but sentence was 
delayed. In the meantime’ Red Bird sickened and died, committed 
suicide, Mrs. Kinzie says, in ““Wau-Bun” in consequence of chagrin from 
being held a prisoner, more than his proud spirit could bear. On De- 
cember 26, 1828, his accomplices were sentenced to be hung, but later 
were pardoned by President Adams on the condition the Indians cede 
certain lands to the government. 


The Daughters of the American Revolution of Portage have pur- 
chased a small piece of land where the three roads meet at the Fort 
and on a block of Wausau red granite have placed three bronze tablets, 
as follows: 


Old Military Road 
116 Miles to Fort Howard 
To Fort Crawford 115 Miles 


—_—— Officers 
Old 
Fort Winnebago Who Served at 
“Cemetery Fort Winnebago 
Major D. E. Twiggs 
Site of Major Natkan Clark 
Fort Winnebago Captain W. S. Harney 
1828—1845 Captain J. J. Ambercrombie 
Captain Gideon Low 
Surrender of Red Bird Capta'n E. V. Sumner 
Noted Indian Chief Lieutenant Jefferson Davis 
1827 Lieutenant H. P. Van Cleve 
Lieutenant R. B. Marcy 
Erected by Lieutenant F. S. Mumford 
7 iteiena aoa and others. 
of the 


American Revolution 


The Old Cemetery 


Continuing on the central of the three roads about a quarter of a 
mile, the Fort Winnebago cemetery will be found,in a grove to. the 


104 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


right. Near the west fence is the grave of Cooper Pixley, a soldier 
of the Revolution, who died in 1855, aged 86. 

A little to the east is the grave of William Sylvester, a soldier of 
the War of 1812, and the first mayor of Portage, March 30, 1854. He 
was born October 28, 1782, and died November 20, 1875. His two 
wives sleep beside him. 

Near the south fence is the grave of John Clough, also a soldier 
of the War of 1812. He died July 11, 1855, aged 68 years. 

Near the center of the cemetery is the grave of Henry Carpenter, 
a soldier of the Black Hawk War. 

Captain Gideon Low was probably the only Mexican War veteran 
buried here. His body was subsequently removed to Silver Lake Cem- 
etery, Portage. 

Captain William Weir, Richard O’Neil, Owen Jones, Robert Rob- 
inson, and William H. Glenn, all veterans of the Civil War, are interred 
here. 

J. H. Gamble, hero of the Spanish-American War, sleeps in this 
same enclosure, and the grave of Archie White Eagle, a soldier in the 
World War, twelve paces from the inscribed stone boulder near the en- 
trance, is marked by two small pine trees. 

Those who died in the fort are buried along the south fence. The 
boards marking their graves burned years ago, and their locations are 
now lost. It is said more of the early graves are without than within 
the iron fence enclosing these sacred sepulchers. 


The Wau-Bun House 


Returning toward Portage, cross the canal at the eastern extremity 
of the city, turn sharply to the right and follow the road on the bank 
of the artificial waterway to the Agency or Wau-Bun House, now 
owned by Attorney E. S. Baker. John H. Kinzie came with his bride 
to the portage in 1830 and this house was soon afterward erected for 
them. Mrs. Kinzie brought her piano up the Fox River in a boat, 
mention of which is made in her delightful “Wau-Bun.” ; 

To the rear of the Agency House, Four Legs, the great chief of 
the Winnebago Nation, was buried, in 1830. His village was on Doty 
Island at the foot of Lake Winnebago, and his death at Portage was 
the result of carouse, traders not scrupulously observing the laws in re- 
gard to disposing of liquor to Indians. His funeral was observed with 
unusual pomp, as told by Mrs. Kinzie in “Wau-Bun.” 

“His body, according to their custom, having been wrapped in a 
blanket and placed in a rude coffin along with guns, tomahawk, pipes, 
and a quantity of tobacco, had been carried to the most elevated point 
of the hill opposite the fort, followed by an immense procession of his 
people, whooping, beating the:r drums, howling and making altogeth- 
er what is emphatically termed a ‘pow-wow.’ 

“After the interment of his body a stake was planted at his head, 
on which was printed in vermillion a series of hieroglyphics descrip- 
tive of the great deeds and events of his life. The whole was then 
surrounded with pickets of the trunks of the tamarack trees, and 
thither the friends would come for many successive days to renew 
the expression of their grief, and throw over the grave tobacco and 
other offerings to the Great Spirit.” 

The Winnebago mother of Peter Paquette was buried nearly in 
front of the Agency House. All traces of the Indian graves have 
been lost. 


BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 105 


Just east of the Agency House is where Jean Baptiste Dubay, 
born at Green Bay in 1810, had a trading post, operating for the 
American Fur Company. Here he was arrested on the charge of 
shooting William S. Reynolds, the quarrel being over the erection of 
a building on land claimed by the trader. Dubay chopped down the 
studding after the roof boards were on and when Reynolds protested 
he was killed, the tragedy taking place on August 15, 1857. Dubay 
narrowly escaped a lynching from the Portage jail; some time after he 
was released, but never again dared to visit Portage. He had oper- 
ated a boat on the Wisconsin River above Portage and after the 
tragedy took up his residence at Stevens Point. 

The Agency House was used as a tavern at one time, the land- 
lord being an Italian by the name of Ubeldine. His wife was an Irish 
woman and an early traveler states that she was “the better man,” at 
least when any difficulty arose between the two. 


The Canal 


The first charter for a canal at the portage was granted in 1837 
to the same persons who had incorporated the Shot Tower Company 
of Helena, about half way to the Mississippi River. They commenced 
to dig on the Fox River where the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 
Railway crosses that stream and after expending $10,000 gave up the 
task. In 1846, the federal government passed an act granting the 
State of Wisconsin permission to build the canal and two years later 
this was accepted. In 1849, a canal was begun in a new location and 
in 1851 the steamer, John Mitchell, nearly accomplished the feat of 
passing from the Fox to the Wisconsin but was not able to do so on 
account of its incompletion. The state failed to complete the task, 
but granted a charter to an improvement company and this organiza- 
tion failing, the federal government took up the task, completing the 
canal during the Centennial year. The Boscobel was the first steamer 
to pass through the artifiicial waterway, the date being June 30, 1876. 
The canal is two and one-half miles long. 

The lock where the canal joins the Fox is a short distance to the 
east of the historic Wau-Bun House. 

The pioneer blacksmith shop was in the field forty rods or more to 
the west. 

The Lynching Bee Tree 

Returning from the Agency House along the canal, crossing the 
railroad, and traversing East Cook Street a short distance, the Colum- 
bia County Jail is noted on the right. Across the street and several 
rods to the rear, stands a gnarled black oak around which there was 
once a lynching bee. 

Pat Wildrick, the dread of travelers, the plague of sheriffs, and 
the torment of the entire region, was hanged from a limb of the tree 
on September 18, 1869. Wildrick had been arrested on the charge of 
assaulting and robbing Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Gates while they were 
camping on an island in the Wisconsin River, a few miles below Kil- 
bourn. Gates had about $2,400 with him and this Wildrick and his 
companion carried away. 

Wildrick. was arrested at McGregor, Iowa, placed in jail, released 
on bond, robbed a companion named Olson in Portage, and was again 
placed in jail. While in prison Gates was murdered near Kilbourn 
(see the first chapter in this booklet) and this so enraged the com- 
munities at Baraboo and Kilbourn that a lynching party was formed, 
the jail at Portage was entered by a ruse, and Wildrick lynched. 


106 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


——— —————————_—————————— Eee 


Just two days before the lynching bee, Captain Barney Britt was 
assassinated by William H. Spain in Portage, a mob lynching the 
murderer soon afterward. Both had served in the Civil War. 

The press of the time approved the verdict and considered the 
task well performed. One of the editors of that day, J. C. (Shanghai) 
Chandler wrote that Wildrick was hanging in such a way that he 
could not wipe his nose. 

The limb over which the rope was thrown was cut away and the 
pieces distributed as souvenirs. The scar left by removing the limb 
may be seen on the south side of the oak. On the north side is an in- 
scription: 


P. Wildrick Hung Here 


The act, unlawful as it was, clarified the atmosphere of the region. 
For a more complete account see The Wisconsin Magazine for June, 
1923. 

Burial Place of Paquette 


Continuing west on Cook street several blocks, a turn is made to 
the right at the Baptist church, the first church the traveler reaches in 
traversing the thoroughfare from the east. Between the church and 
the parsonage to the rear stood the first French Mission between De 
Pere and Prairie du Chien, erected of logs by Pierre Paquette in 
1833-34. He was killed by an Indian, as previously related, and beneath 
the rude place of worship was buried. The mission building afterward 
burned and for a number of years the exact location of the grave was 
unknown. It was later located and the remains moved to the Catholic 
Cemetery north-of Portage in 1904. On a small tablet on the parson- 
age, just above a cellar window on the west side of the house, one 
reads: 


Pierre Pauquette 
1795—1836 
Removed to Catholic 
Cemetery 1904 


A large brown granite monument, with a globe at the top, marks 
his final resting place. 


PLACES FOR PLEASURE—PICNIC TABLES 


For an outing, picnic tables will be found at the following places: 
Man Mound Park, near Baraboo. 

Devil’s Lake State Park, near Baraboo. 

Flickner’s boat landing in Delton, and Fern Dell on Mirror Lake. 
Loch Mirror Park on Mirror Lake. 

Park in Merrimack. 

Marion Park in Prairie du Sac. 

Several camping places at Kilbourn. 

Ochsner Park in Baraboo. 

Hall Park in Sauk City, and Reformed Church, Sauk City. 
Gibraltar Bluff, Horton farm, north end. 

Fairy Dell Park, near Wonewoc. 

Weigand’s Bay and Gruber’s Grove, on Wisconsin River. 
Summerville Park, Pine Bluff, one mile north of Okee. 

Tourist camp ground, Portage. 


CHAPTER XIV 


From Madison to Kilbourn and The Dells 


ae trip by automobile from Madison 
to the Dells is one of varied interest 
and charm. Many of the uncommon, his- 
toric, and fascinating places mentioned in 
this booklet are near this much traveled 
road. 

(1) One may leave the capital of the 
state over Trunk Highway 12 or divert at 
the University of Wisconsin grounds, leav- 
ing the observatory to the right in driv- 
ing toward the lake, and then following 
the Park and Pleasure Drive until it joins 
the main road beyond the railway viaduct. 
The traveler follows the main direction 
taken by Black Hawk, his followers, and 
the troops on that intensely exciting day, 
July 21, 1832, until the scene of the even- 
ing battle is reached. The story of the en- 
gagement is related in the chapter on Wis- 
consin Heights. 


ROXBURY 


(2) Roxbury Cemetery where Na- 
poleon soldiers are buried, also church. 


SPRINGFIELD CORNERS (See chapter on Wisconsin Heights.) 
(3) Rural school building which was 
Be: on the edge of the “paper” town of the 


City of Superior. (See Chapter on: Wis- 
consin Heights.) From this building a 
favorable view of the approximate location 
of the battle may be obtained. 

(5S) The battle of Wisconsin Heights 
was fought near the creek. 

(6) Indian corn hills or garden beds 

in an oak grove. The hills, the last in this 
ASHTON entire region, may be dimly seen. 

Jonathan Carver visited the sites of 
pauk Ciyvand Prairies due Sac sini 3.1706. 
(See chapter on Spring Green, Jones Park 
and Ableman.) 

(7) Wisconsin River Power Com- 
pany, begun in 1914; capacity about 25,000 
horsepower. 

(8) Farm purchased in 1920 by for- 

mer Governor E. L. Philipp, Milwaukee. 
SS (9) Baxter Hollow. (See chapter on 
| Miscellaneous Places of Interest.) 
Se “tat ale (10) Apiary of E. D. Ochsner. The 
SS hives may be seen from the highway. 

(11) Pine Hollow. (See Miscellan- 
eous Places of Interest chapter.) 

(12) Spring located in the woods, 
part way up the bluff. Deer are frequent- 


107 


= 


108 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


ly seen along this part of the highway. 


(13) Bench mark erected by the United States Geological Sur- 
vey. The iron post gives the elevation as 1,200 feet. 


(14) Devil’s Lake. It may be 
reached by either of two roads north of the 
spring. 

(15) Outcrop of schistose structure 
—metamorphosed quartzite—and ripple 
marks. 

(16) Bank at left of turn in road af- 
ter passing school, is mouth of Paleozoic 
stream. 

(17) Skillet Falls, above, and Pewit’s 
Nest, below. 

(18) From Baraboo to the Dells, is 
over Trunk Highway No. 12. The road 
crosses Webster Prairie; the terminal 
moraine, forming the sky-line less than a 
mile to the east. This extensive prairie, a 
veritable flower garden in the days before 
the first plow-share disturbed the soil, is 
the outwash from a wall of glacial ice that, 
during the ice epoch, extended for miles in 
a northerly and southerly direction near 
the site of the present highway. It is now 
the center of a prosperous rural commun- 
ity. 

Some eight or nine miles distant from 
Baraboo, shortly before the road turns to 
the left, an interesting old residence is ob- 
served, the Elms, once the home of the 
Marshall family, early residents of the 
Prairie. The place, which at one time in- 
cluded 1,476 acres, was owned by the late 
R. D. Marshall of Madison, for many years 
a member of the supreme court of the 
state. The acreage has been somewhat re- 
duced in recent years. 

From the Marshall farm the road pur- 
sues a winding way, crossing Dell Creek 
and passing through the sequestered vil- 
lage of Delton where it turns abruptly to 
the right, then past groves of evergreen 
into Kilbourn. 

(19) Congress Hall. (See Chapter 
on Mirror Lake.) : 

(20) Where S. S. Gates was killed. 
(See Chapter on the Wisconsin River and 
the Dells, also Portage.) 


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CHAPTER XV 


Little Journeys to Miscellaneous Places 


Gibraltar Bluff near 
view. The formations, 
the top are: soil and_ glacial drift; 
Black River limestone; St. Peter 
sandstone, in huge cliff; Lower Mag- 


Okee, fine 
beginning at 


nesian, covered by fallen rocks; Jor- 
dan sandstone, seen in gullies; St. 
Lawrence sandstone, seen in gullies; 
and Mazomanie sandstone, seen in 
gullies. 

Pine Hollow, mile east of Kings 
Corners. 

Launch ride from Merrimack to 


Prairie du Sac. 

Baxter Hollow, south of Baraboo. 

Leach Lake, northeast of Baraboo. 

Konkel’s mill pond in Caledonia. 

- Fairy Dell Park one mile east of 
Wonewoc. 

Boyhood homes of John Muir, ten 
miles northeast of Portage. The Muir 
family resided on the north side of 
Fountain (Now Ennis) Lake and on 
Hickory Hill Farm several miles to 
the southeast. Read Muitr’s ‘“‘My 
Boyhood and Youth” and the previous 
edition of this booklet. 


TO MADISON 


In Madison visit the senate chamber, 
assembly chamber, governor’s room, 
hearing room, supreme court room and 
base of dome (for view) in the capitol. 
Guides provided by the state leave the 
rotunda at regular intervals. The out- 
side of the building is of White Bethel 
Vermont granite and the dome, 287 
feet high, is but two feet less in height 
than the one at Washington. Note in- 
terior decorations by Kenyon Cox and 
others. 

Museum in Historical Library at 
foot of State Street. Indian Spirit 
stone and tablet near front entrance to 
building. Mammoth skeleton (found 
Richland Center) of extinct 
elephant, meteorites, fossils, lead and 
zine deposits in Science Hall. 

Natural history display in 
Building. 

Indian mounds may be seen on Ob- 
servatory Hill, Vilas Park, Mendota 
Hospital lawn, Memorial Hospital 
grounds and other places. 

Visit Vilas Park zoo. The animals 
are fed every day at 4 o’clock except 
Friday. ° 

Visit fish hatchery south of city. 


IN BARABOO 


Baraboo was named for Jean Bari- 
bault, a French trader. 


Biology 


There is a museum in the court- 
house. 
The first courthouse stood at 120 


Fourth Avenue. 


109 


The Al. Ringling Theatre, 136 to 140 
Fourth Avenue, was opened November 
17, 1915, cost about $100,000, and the 
architects were C. W. and George 
Rapp, Chicago. 

The Al. Ringling residence, now oc- 
cupied by his sister, Mrs. Ida North, 
was erected in 1911, at a. cost of 


$100,000. Mr, Ringling was the eldest 
of the showmen. 
The first church in Baraboo stood 


across the street, east of the Al. Ring- 
ling residence. See tablet. 

The Collegiate Institute building, a 
pioneer college, is at 221 to 223 Fifth 
Avenue. 

Jack Boyle, author of Boston Blackie 
stories, in 1919-1920, resided at 316 
Fifth Avenue. 

Mr. and Mrs. G. G. Gollmar, par- 


ents of the Gollmar Brothers, circus 
men, resided at 507 Birch Street. 
Ringlings first pitched their ‘“‘big 
top,”’ May 19, 1884, where the county 
jail now _ stands, southwest corner 


Broadway and Second Avenue. 

August Ringling, father of the Ring- 
lings, died at 210 Second Avenue. The 
family once resided at 227 on the same 
street. 

At the end of Second Avenue, south 
side of the street, was the winter quar- 
ters for many years of the Gollmar 
circus. The show was sold in 1919. 

Ochsner Park was opened to the 


public in 1919. The first water power 
on the river was below the large 
boulder marking the site of the first 
house. 

See school house tablet at 321 


Seventh Avenue. 

Mrs. August Ringling, mother of the 
Ringlings, died in 1919, at 821 Oak 
Street. 

The Alf. T. Ringling residence, 103 
Tenth Street, is now St. Mary’s Ring- 
ling Hospital, a gift by Mrs. Ringling 
and son, Richard T. Ringling. 

Mr. and Mrs. August Ringling, Al. 
Ringling, Otto Ringling, and Henry 
Ringling are buried in the Baraboo 
(Walnut Hill) Cemetery, August G. 
Ringling in St. Joseph’s Cemetery ad- 
joining. Alf. T. Ringling is buried at 
White Plains, New York. 

The Ringling winter quarters 
along Water. Street. 

Bunn the Baker of Baraboo formerly 
had a shop at 114 Walnut Street. He 
now resides on Cheek’s Hill. 

The Charles Deininger collection of 
birds is in the high school building. 

Fine collection of mounted water 
birds in the L. M. Jacobs barber shop 
at the rear of the First National Bank. 


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8 Fo ad lh Re ig 


Explanation of the Geological Table Accom- 
panying This Chapter—W hat Column 
Indicates 


HE geological column on the preceding page indicates the position 

of the different rocks of the Baraboo region in the general succes- 
sion of ages of the earth’s history. The geological column has been 
worked out by combining observations from all parts of the world; 
there is probably no one place where all the ages of rock are present 
one above the other. Different kinds of rocks were formed in each 
epoch, some deposited by water, some by wind, some by the work of 
plants or animals, some by chemical action, and some by’ fire (igneous 
rocks), and some by ice. The Baraboo district contains examples of 
nearly all kinds of rocks but not examples of deposits made in all 
epochs. 

The time of deposition is told by examination of the remains of 
life or fossils within the rocks; there has been a steady change in the 
character of the life on the globe from one period to the next, man be- 
ing one of the latest to appear upon the scene. Where there is a con- 
tact between rocks formed at different times with the representatives 
of some ages absent, geologists say there is an “unconformity.” The 
Baraboo. region shows three great unconformities: between the granite 
and the Baraboo quartzite, between that formation with its associated 
deposits of Algonkian age and the Cambrian sandstone, and between 
all the bed rocks and the glacial drift. Each unconformity represents 
a time when instead of deposition erosion went on; in other words the 
area was land. During some of the intervals the change from sea to 
land was accomplished by great, powerful movements which upheaved 
mountains. The contact between the vertical layers of quartzite and 
the nearly level beds of sandstone and conglomerate at Ableman 
records a lapse of time which ‘staggers the imagination; the quartzite 
was changed from sand to hard glassy rock, upheaved from horizontal 
to vertical, cracked, quartz deposited by water in the crevices, the high 
mountains slowly worn down to their very roots, and last sunk beneath 
the Cambrian sea during this time. The unconformity between the 
solid rocks and the glacial drift also represents a long period of land 
conditions which embraced all the epochs from the Devonian to the 
Quaternary. 

During Archean time most of the rocks formed near Baraboo were 
cooled from a molten state (igneous); whatever sediments were de- 
posited have been so changed by earth movements, deep burial, and so 
forth that their origin can now scarcely be recognized. The Algonkian 
period found the sea over the land with ensuing deposition of sand, 
clay, iron oxide, and limestone, now quartzite, slate, iron formation, and 
marble. There are no recognizable fossils in these rocks but life prob- 
ably existed. The Cambrian rocks also record the work of the sea. 
Waters which covered the continent were never as deep as the ocean, 
although thousands of feet of deposits may have accumulated as the 
bottom gradually sank. Each sandstone formation records relatively 
shallow water with active wave work; each limestone, clear waters with 

111 


112 BARABOO, DELLS, AND DEVIL’S LAKE REGION 


low or distant lands allowing plants and animals to take lime from the 
sea waters for their skeletons or shells and on their death build up a 
deposit just as marl is being formed in the lakes of today; each shale 
means muddy water tarther from land than the sand but not so far as 
the limestone. Deposition continued with little interruption through- 
out the Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian periods. The long gap in 
the Baraboo district after the Silurian was broken only by the gravel 
deposition on the East Bluff which is believed to have possibly taken 
place during the Cretaceous epoch. 

Then came the ice age which in Wisconsin was marked by at least 
two ice invasions caused by a cool climate in Canada with abundant 
snowfall. More snow fell than could be melted and was compacted into 
ice which flowed outward by its own weight. The two stages of ice 
were separated by a prolonged interval when the glaciers nearly, if not 
wholly, melted away. 

Only one stage, the last, affected the Baraboo region. The 
glacier leveled up the country mainly by filling the valleys. Around 
Baraboo the valleys were filled about 250 feet; at Devils Lake about 
400 feet. Comparatively little solid rock was worn away by the ice 
but loose stones and soil were swept away and mingled into the great 
mass of stones, sand, pebbles, and earth, some of which was carried 
from Canada, but most of which was taken but a few miles before it 
was dropped. \The visitor who stands on East Bluff overlooking the 
valley toward Merrimack can see just how far the ice extended because 
there is very little talus or loose quartzite boulders in the track of the 
glacier. Instead he will find such in the terminal moraine which forms 
the dams at both ends of the lake. The fact that the time since the ice 
passed away is long measured in terms of human affairs, some tens of 
thousands of years, should not obscure the fact that the process of 
loosening blocks from the bluff is very slow. If in say 40,000 years so 
few stones were broken off by frost, heat, and roots of trees, how long 
did it take for a stream to carve a valley half a mile wide and 9(@0 feet 
deep in solid quartzite? How long did it take for the sea to deposit 
that quartzite?) How long for the Algonkian mountains to be uplifted — 
and then worn almost wholly away? How long for the Cambrian and 
later sediments to be formed? The human mind can scarcely grasp the 
answer, for such huge figures are impossible of comparison. The 
column at the right of the table gives the rough estimates far too small. 
We must also remember that during the vast time the earth has been 
in coming to its present form, not once has it ever all risen above the 
temperature of boiling or all fallen below that of freezing; else no life 
could have survived. The visitor who has learned to think on these 
problems will find them far more impressive than the freakish, queer 
shaped rocks, mere accidents of weathering formed in comparatively 
recent times. He will have learned some of the fundamental truths on 
which rests the science of geology. 


